So says Russ Feingold in an interview with Huffington Post. Many liberals and “progressives” already know this. He details the naivety and simpleton-ness of the crop of what can only be considered imbeciles running to be the GOP nominee for president.

If President Obama runs a fact based and issue based campaign while many Americans will fall for the Republican shenanigans, misinformation, and fallacies, most will ultimately look out for what is best for themselves, their communities and their country. Americans did this in 2008 but stayed out of the game in 2010. We must learn our lesson. Allowing the Right Wing and Tea Party to usurp our politics has severely delayed our recovery. This must not happen in 2012.

Russ Feingold: ‘It’s A Threat To Our Country’ To Elect One Of The GOP Presidential Candidates

Amanda Terkel Senior Political Reporter, The Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — America has largely turned its focus away from foreign policy and civil liberties since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, according to a new book by former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold. This shift inward, he argues, can be seen everywhere: in the Tea Party, among progressive activists and in elected officials. But the problem — and its potentially dire consequences — can perhaps be seen most clearly in the 2012 presidential campaign.

In an interview about the book, "While America Sleeps," Feingold lamented the GOP presidential candidates’ lack of discussion and knowledge of foreign policy.

"To me, the gap between President Obama and these people [the GOP candidates] is so enormous that it’s a threat to our country to elect people who take such a silly view of the rest of the world," he told The Huffington Post.

Feingold pointed to former presidential candidate Herman Cain’s pronouncement that he didn’t know the president of Uzbekistan — which he called "Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan" — and that he considered the country "small and insignificant."

"He made fun of a nation that is actually a critical nation," said Feingold. "It is the nation to the north of Afghanistan and Pakistan. When we’re having trouble with Pakistan, we want to go through Uzbekistan to get our things to our troops in Afghanistan. But the trouble is, Uzbekistan is basically run by a guy who is a Stalinist dictator."

"I actually analyzed the two Republican debates on foreign policy and just counted up how many times they mentioned various countries," he added. "Well, they never mentioned Somalia once. This is a place where al Shabaab is operating. It was an Al Qaeda chapter. It was a place where Al Qaeda has had a place for some time, and it’s a critical location. They mentioned Yemen once."

"They are dumbing down foreign policy to slogans," Feingold said. "Of course, the slogans they use are, ‘The president is always apologizing for America,’ or, ‘Do you or do you not believe in American exceptionalism?’ That’s what they’re offering the country in place of real policy."

Feingold goes hard after the concept of American exceptionalism in the book. The term is popular among the GOP presidential candidates, with everything from God to the U.S. space program being touted as an example of this exceptionalism.

"The notion of American exceptionalism is effective in part because there is little on the face of it that is offensive," writes Feingold, adding, "The conservative version of American exceptionalism has become a password of sorts for candidates who want to prove their credentials to a right-wing America."

Russ Feingold: ‘It’s A Threat To Our Country’ To Elect One Of The GOP Presidential Candidates

President Obama’s budget is out. Do not allow the demonization of the President’s budget. Inasmuch as it is unlikely to get traction in Congress, it will be used as the attack piece by the GOP. It is not perfect but in the climate of a confused America it is simple to understand and is the best option out there for the middle class. It at least will not put the totality of the suffering on the middle class while leaving those that have pilfered the country’s wealth untouched.

What is sad is that as a rich country we really neither have a “real” spending problem as most of the spending sans corporate giveaways is spending the different constituencies actually want, or a shortage to pay for these outlays. We are short sighted in that inasmuch as all data indicate that the hoarding of capital by the few reduces economic growth, we still refuse to acknowledge that a robust taxing system is necessary to control the ill effects of capitalism that cannot be mitigated equitably in any other form.

Until we tax all income equally (capital gains and worker income) and until we tax social security on all said income, we should never be talking about structural changes in our social programs intended to reduce coverage, benefits, or retirements.

Until those that benefit the most from our armed forces expenditures to protect their overseas assets and interests; until those that benefit the most from an infrastructure that allows for the movement of goods and services; and until those that benefit the most from “we the people”, our government’s investment in the education of us all are made to pay their fair share in taxes consummate to their marginal gain we should never be talking about any raise in middle class taxes.

Ten Facts About The Obama Budget

By Travis Waldron on Feb 13, 2012 at 3:38 pm

President Obama unveiled his budget for fiscal year 2013 this morning in Virginia, touting it as a budget that took a balanced approach toward investing in American economic growth now while reducing the nation’s deficit over the long-term. The budget is a step in the right direction, using both tax increases and spending cuts to cut the deficit and investing in infrastructure and other job creation measures to continue the economic recovery.

Like any budget, Obama’s is complicated, containing investments and cuts to various programs. With that in mind, ThinkProgress compiled 10 facts about the Obama budget based on the White House fact sheet and other reports:

1. The budget includes $350 billion in short-term measures to encourage job growth, including $50 billion in immediate infrastructure investment, $30 billion to rebuild schools, and year-long extensions of the payroll tax holiday and unemployment insurance.

2. The implementation of the Buffett Rule and the repeal of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy helps reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years.

3. For every $1 in new revenue from those making more than $250,000 per year and from closing corporate loopholes, the budget has $2.50 in spending cuts including the deficit reduction enacted over the last year.

4. The total budget reduces the deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade.

5. Obama preserves the maximum Pell Grant award, a key difference from the GOP budget, and makes permanent then Americans Opportunity Tax Credit, which helps 9 million families afford the costs of college.

6. Unlike the last two GOP budgets, Obama’s budget protects Medicare and Medicaid from structural changes, and through small tweaks, saves $360 billion from those programs.

7. States will receive $30 billion in aid to prevent further layoffs of firefighters, teachers, and police officers, some of the hardest-hit workforces in the nation.

8. The budget eliminates 12 tax breaks to oil, gas, and coal companies, saving $41 billion over 10 years.

9. Obama preserves planned cuts to the Defense Department negotiated in the debt limit deal last August.

10. The budget maintains goals of putting one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015; doubling share of electricity from clean energy sources by 2035; and reducing buildings’ energy use by 20 percent by 2020.

As the Center for American Progress’ Michael Linden notes, Obama’s budget is far from perfect. It’s spending caps are too low, it’s defense cuts are too small, and it contains less new revenue than bipartisan plans like Simpson-Bowles and Rivlin-Domenici. But it prioritizes job creation and economic development and keeps America on the path to recovery, something Republican plans, unfortunately, fail to do.

Ten Facts About The Obama Budget | ThinkProgress

The following is the letter submitted to the Senate Banking Committee calling for a hearing looking at corporate governance solutions to Citizens United. It is a collaborative letter with signatories that includes Public Citizen’s Congress Watch & Coffee Party USA and many other organizations demanding disclosure and accountability to shareholders around corporate political spending.

Many shareholders are unaware of the lobbying done by these corporations of which they are part owners. In fact many of these corporations are lobbying for policies likely diametrically opposed to the wishes of their shareholders. Many of these policies materially and negatively affect them.

Government is “we the people”. We the people (government) is only bad when we relegate our sovereignty to the corporation or some other special interest.

Letter To Banking Committee

Most Americans agree with the President’s "Buffett Rule" — the simple idea that millionaires shouldn’t pay lower taxes than middle-class families. But Republicans in Congress are attacking ANY tax increases on millionaires and corporate special interests.

We need an economy that works for everyone and leaders who’ve got their priorities straight. Our national budget should reflect our national priorities. Do we really want an America where working families bear more of the burden just so the richest few can pay less?

Washington Republicans say we can’t afford to put Americans back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges and schools — but say we can afford to keep massive tax giveaways for millionaires and corporate special interests. Turning their backs on regular Americans may pad the profits of the corporations and millionaires bankrolling their campaigns — but it won’t help grow our middle class.

We can have an America where everyone finally contributes their fair share. We can start by passing the Buffett Rule and getting rid of "trickle down" tax handouts that don’t work.

GOP MISINFORMATION

: "Obama’s budget doesn’t solve our deficit – and it doesn’t cut spending enough."

REAL INFORMATION

• 3 out of every 4 dollars of our nation’s debt are the result of Republican policies. We can’t go back to what doesn’t work.
• The best way to handle our debt and get our economy going is to put Americans back to work. That’s what the President has been fighting to do all along.
• If they were serious about deficits, they wouldn’t have fought so hard for the Bush tax cuts and two unfunded wars that led to the record deficits we’re dealing with today – and they’d get rid of deficit-busting tax giveaways for millionaires right now.
  

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GOP MISINFORMATION

 "Obama’s budget raises taxes."

REAL INFORMATION

• Regular Americans are working harder and harder for less and less while Wall Street CEOs are getting bigger and bigger bonuses and sailing by without paying their fair share.
• The President’s budget calls for passing the "Buffett Rule." It’s based on the core American value that middle-class families shouldn’t have to pay higher taxes than millionaires.
• When Presidents Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton told millionaires and big corporations to pay their fair share, we got millions of new jobs and strong economic growth.
• Our economy works best when we value working families and everyone contributes their fair share.
  

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GOP MISINFORMATION

"Obama’s budget is more of the same failed stimulus policies."

REAL INFORMATION

• Try saying that to the millions of Americans kept from the unemployment rolls because of the first stimulus bill.
• The President’s budget plan would put Americans back to work fixing our crumbling roads, bridges, and schools – and more money in the pockets of working Americans means more customers in our stores.
• If Republicans really believed their own attacks, why did they keep taking stimulus money for their states and districts the last time?
  

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Three-fourths of Americans, including nearly 70% of Republicans, support the Buffett Rule.
• America does better when the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.
• At the end of the Clinton Administration, we were expecting a $6 trillion budget surplus — but Bush Republicans who thought "deficits don’t matter" squandered the surplus and doubled the national debt by 2009. That’s what President Obama inherited.
• Here’s where we are today: in just the last two years our economy has added almost 4 million private sector jobs — despite Republican attempts to kill millions of jobs and sabotage our recovery.
• Half of Americans believe that Republicans are intentionally stalling efforts to jumpstart the economy. Even Republican politicians admit they’re sabotaging the economic recovery just to defeat Obama.

Guest post from: Constance Rodgers

We just got a t1 line at work and it’s made my job SO much easier. A lot of our clients are overseas and I was so sick and tired of having calls cut in and out and there being 5 second delays when I was trying to conduct my business. It’s also nice that we can do online conferences now because you know, it’s helpful to show potential clients things in real time, things like graphs and mock ups and whatnot. It’s amazing to me that business was ever done without the help of the internet but you know, at the end of the day I guess even if the web didn’t exist I would still be able to call people and snail mail stuff. It’s a shame the post officeisn’t doing well but you know, I send probably 200 emails a day and about one letter a week, at the most. I can’t believe things have come so far from when I was a kid – it’s really amazing to me!

Rachel Maddow is always substantive on her show on MSNBC if with a huge cadre of sarcasm. This article leaves all the sarcasm out and simply gets to the point of the current debate of the GOP attacking birth control as a new pre-step to further control of a woman’s body.

It is so important that more of this message is articulated by a woman with a woman’s point of view. Most of the argument has been directed and dictated by men. From the Catholic Church whose codified disdain for women’s leadership to the hypocritical patriarchal Republican politicians, these attack on women’s reproductive rights are hollow.  While as usual we have a group of Democrats that cower at the first sight of a Republican attack, I am proud to have a president that is able to navigate a rather spineless party with a morally corrupt one and still achieve the ultimate goal; women’s right to birth control even within the churches’ institutions.

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War on birth control

By Rachel Maddow, Friday, February 10, 6:57 PM

Rachel Maddow is a political commentator and host of MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

In 2008 in Colorado, a rebel faction of antiabortion activists decided to pursue a “personhood” initiative. Over the objections of the mainstream antiabortion movement, they proposed amending the state’s constitution to redefine the word “person” to include zygotes. Under the proposal, “from the moment of fertilization,” a woman would be considered two people under Colorado law. When the initiative went before voters, it failed by more than 40 points.

The same activists brought up the measure again in 2010. They changed the “moment of fertilization” language to “the beginning of biological development,” but the intent — and the electoral result — were the same. Even with that year’s conservative electorate, Colorado voters said no to “personhood” by more than 40 points. Again.

The mainstream antiabortion movement opposed the Colorado effort because its members believed a challenge to it might have the unintended effect of reaffirming Roe v. Wade. They also worried that a blunt effort to ban all abortion might cause a backlash that would set back their incremental chipping away at abortion rights.

[CONTINUED]

Rachel Maddow: The GOP war on birth control – The Washington Post

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This Mitt Romney interview is telling. While I do not believe he would necessarily want to test grandma for drugs before she gets her social security, his statement is not a slip of the tongue in his mind.

Mitt Romney has shown a visceral hate for the poor without even realizing it. In his disdain for those incapable of using unfettered capitalism as he has to pilfer those beneath him, he sees a weak people that should just be his unquestioned subjects.

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The right-wing media and their political allies are using discredited evidence and false claims to try to distort and dismiss last week’s encouraging jobs news.

Good news on jobs is only bad news if you’re trying to sabotage our recovery.

We have a long way to go until we’re fully recovered, but good news on jobs is still good news.  But Republican politicians and their allies are reacting to encouraging news on jobs like it’s bad news — using false claims to distort and dismiss it.

They’ve said their top political priority is defeating President Obama, and so they’ve fought job creating plans and laid off droves of teachers, cops, and firefighters. It should come as no surprise they’d fight job creation and be upset when Americans do well — they’d rather see Obama lose than America win.

Good news on jobs is only bad news if you’re trying to sabotage our recovery.

Romney: "I will not just slow the growth of government. I will cut it."

• The best way to get our economy going is to put Americans back to work, but Romney would do the opposite. Cutting spending means cutting jobs.
• President Obama and the American people are creating jobs. Our economy created a quarter million of them last month alone, bringing unemployment down to a three year low.
• Unemployment would be even lower and we’d have even stronger jobs growth if Republicans didn’t keep trying to lay off the Americans who keep our country running.

Boehner: "Obama doesn’t deserve credit — without him, we could be doing better."

• The American people deserve credit and that’s who this President’s policies have supported — despite political opponents trying to cut millions of American jobs at the same time.
• We should be putting money in the pockets of the real job creators: regular Americans whose spending keeps our businesses thriving and hiring. That’s what Obama is doing.
• We can keep our economy going in the right direction — but we need leaders who want Americans to succeed more than they want the President to fail.
  

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  WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

  • Half of Americans believe that Republicans are intentionally stalling efforts to jumpstart the economy to ensure President Obama isn’t re-elected. Even Republican politicians admit they’re sabotaging the economic recovery just to defeat Obama.
  • Our economy added almost a quarter million new private sector jobs last month, bringing the total number of total jobs created in the past two years to 3.7 million and unemployment down to its lowest level in almost three years.
  • If Republican politicians hadn’t pushed so hard to lay off our teachers, cops, and firefighters, our unemployment rate would be 7.7% today — which would mean a 50% bigger drop than we’ve had so far since the recession technically ended in June 2009. (Click here for background on how this figure would be calculated using BLS jobs data.)
  • In contrast, the economy that President Obama inherited was losing nearly a million jobs each month just before he took office.
  • Last year alone, Washington Republicans tried to kill over 7 million jobs.
  • They also repeatedly chose millionaires over jobs for our teachers, construction workers, and even veterans, and kept trying to lay off Americans who keep our country running.
  • All the GOP hopefuls for president want to give the richest 1% even bigger giveaways — but we’ve tried "trickle down" economics so we know it doesn’t create jobs.
    

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Yesterday’s primary election and caucus results are consistent with polling showing that Republican voters are increasingly unhappy with their choices for their party’s nominee. In Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri, not only did Mitt Romney lose, only a fraction of voters from the last time showed up for him. In Colorado, Romney got half the votes he did in 2008. In Minnesota, a third. Same in Missouri. The more voters get to know Romney, the less they trust him to run the country. Here’s how to talk about it

Regular voters are on to Mitt Romney and what he stands for — and they’re not buying it.

• If corporations really were people and could vote, Romney would be fine. But if it comes to facing millions of middle-class voters who work for a living, he’s in trouble.
• We can keep our economy going, but we need leaders who want to fight for all of us — not just the wealthiest 1%.

Killer Facts:

• In the GOP primaries, Mitt Romney has cleaned up with the richest voters, but struggled with regular Americans — doing worse with voters the closer they get to the average American income (based on data from IA, NH, SC, FL, and NV).
• In the last two years, Romney paid an average tax rate of 14 percent — lower taxes than a typical family making $55,000 a year.
• Now Romney is trying to cut his own taxes by nearly half while raising taxes for nearly half of middle-class families with children.
• It’s no wonder corporate special interests that benefit most from a rigged system would go for the politician who’ll keep it that way: in the last quarter alone, Wall Street anted up 12 times more campaign cash to Romney than Obama.

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Just moments ago, Attorney General Abbott issued a statement outlining an agreement reached with some parties regarding the ongoing redistricting legal fight. We were not involved in the discussions that produced this agreement, we are not in agreement to the maps released by the Attorney General, and we do not expect that these maps will be used for the 2012 election.

We’re greatly disappointed the Attorney General did not deal in good faith with all parties involved.

For the Texas Democratic Party, any maps that do not have the consent of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, the Legislative Black Caucus, and other plaintiffs are nonstarters.

The Attorney General is clearly terrified that the DC court will find that the state’s maps are discriminatory in both effect and intent. Until there’s a legitimate agreement among the parties, we support the court continuing to do its work.