greg sargent

Sarah Palin Is Nothing But A Liar

It’s no wonder why the hard core conservatives love this chick. It seems like every time she opens her mouth nothing comes out but lies. Take this latest example. One of her reasons for resigning was that it was costing the taxpayers too much money to fight the ethics complaints. Well it turns out that is flatly wrong:

But there's new evidence to suggest the argument is just factually wrong. Greg Sargent reported that the governor's own office conceded yesterday that money used to respond to the ethics charges are part of fixed costs that would have gone to the same lawyers, whether the charges were filed or not. The funds wouldn't have to go schools, police, or transportation, as Palin claimed. The $1.9 million "was arrived at by adding up attorney hours spent on fending off complaints -- based on the fixed salaries of lawyers in the governor's office and the Department of Law. The money would have gone to the lawyers no matter what they were doing."

(h/t Cesca)

Palin’s biggest problem is that she can’t keep her mouth shut. People talk about Biden’s mouth. His is nothing compared to hers. And the right thinks this lady is presidential material? Now that is down right laughable.

Porter Goss Won’t Say If He Was Told About Torture

This is a very interesting develop. Greg Sargent has been trying to get a clarification from Porter Goss if the CIA told him about the use of torture during that meeting with them and Nancy Pelosi, or if he wasn’t. Well Goss isn’t saying anything:

So I asked Goss’ spokesperson directly: Were he and Pelosi informed that EITs, including waterboarding, had already been used, and were they given a rough sense that Abu Zubaydah had been waterboarded more than 83 times the previous month?

Her answer: “He believes that his Op-ed makes it very clear and is not engaging beyond it at this time.” She declined repeated requests to elaborate.

So here’s where we are: The Republican Congressman who was in the room during Pelosi’s briefing won’t directly vouch for the accuracy of the CIA’s claim that she had been briefed on the use of torture.

And it isn’t that Goss was just the congressman in the room with Pelosi during this briefing – its also the fact that Goss went on to head the CIA not long after this.

So we have a Republican who could be the final nail in the Pelosi coffin, but he isn’t swinging that hammer. Why is that? My only guess is that Goss doesn’t recall exactly what was said (highly unlikely), or he knows Pelosi is telling the truth so he is choosing to just be quiet and let it all play out.

If there was ever a call for a “truth commission” this is it. If the CIA didn’t inform Goss and Pelosi and then lied about it then there are serious crimes being committed. It’s time to find the truth out so this country can move on. The longer we delay that longer our focuses will remain on who was told what and when.

Growing A Better Blogosphere

There is a lot of discussion about the blogosphere and a lack of advertising right now. Most of it has been sparked from a post by Greg Sargent, in which some of the top liberal bloggers voice their displeasure with progressive organizations not spending advertising money on blogs.

I know first hand that running these blogs carry a huge financial burden. Of the four bloggers Greg talks so, Crooks and Liars and Daily Kos carry the highest monthly costs just in terms of equipment. I don’t know Kos’ expenses first hand, but can only guesstimate from what I know of his server infrastructure. I do know Crooks and Liars system first hand, since I am the site’s developer. I am not going to give out the exact expense, but I can tell you that our monthly internet bill alone is more than many make in a month. Pushing out videos is an expensive business.

But now we are at a point of stagnation in the blogosphere. Traffic spiked during the election last year, then it fell off drastically. It has been slowly creeping back up, but not like we would like to see. Perhaps its time to look for new ways to promote our product and offer our readers a sense of involvement.

Interesting New Legal Twists For The Blogosphere?

There has been talk about this for weeks now, but it looks more and more like the FTC is going to put some regulations in that could effect bloggers:

In the new proposed rules, The Federal Trade Commission also addressed advertising in new media (Web 2.0). Essentially, if an advertiser pays a blogger to write a review endorsing a product or service, the advertiser and the blogger must disclose the financial relationship. In addition, both blogger and advertiser both will be liable for any false or unsubstantiated claims regarding results of products or services.

At first you think this wouldn’t effect our niche of the blogosphere that much, but then you see the ongoing discussion over Greg Sargent’s post yesterday talking about advertising in the blogosphere, and you stop and think again. Basically the whole argument is over liberal (sorry – progressive) organizations and if they should purchase advertising on blogs who help promote their causes. If that becomes the case, then this could very well fall under the new regulations of the FTC.

And for the record, I only really push e-Cigarettes and I in no way get any financial compensation from that, well except the money I save from buying real cigarettes.

Public Anger Is Growing

The Obama administration is in trouble. Public anger over these AIG bonuses appear to be the final straw:

The Obama administration is increasingly concerned about a populist backlash against banks and Wall Street, worried that anger at financial institutions could also end up being directed at Congress and the White House and could complicate President Obama’s agenda.

As Greg Sargent points out this morning, the meme the administration is pushing that this outrage is flowing through from the Bush administration and problems that happened then isn’t cutting it either.

Also the whole notion that the administration’s “hands are tied” is a bunch of bullshit. It was easy to tell the automakers that they had to restructure their companies, including compensation, but those same concessions don’t/can’t carry over to Wall Street firms?

If the Obama administration wants to push their agenda through, they need to listen to the American people’s agenda and stop this madness. Congressional leaders are already upset and they will be hearing it more from their constituents, so that means less support for Obama in Congress.

Schools Build Themselves!

That’s what Ben Nelson and Susan Collins apparently think. Greg Sargent has obtained a memo of the latest round of changes to the stimulus package being proposed by these two:

Total Reductions: $80 billion

Eliminations:

Head Start, Education for the Disadvantaged, School improvement, Child Nutrition, Firefighters, Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, Prisons, COPS Hiring, Violence Against Women, NASA, NSF, Western Area Power Administration, CDC, Food Stamps

*****************************

Reductions:

Public Transit $3.4 billion, School Construction $60 billion

*****************************>

Increases:

Defense operations and procurement, STAG Grants, Brownfields, Additional transportation funding

*****************************>

So building schools isn’t stimulating, but spending more on defense is? Oh and food stamps? Isn’t the very simple idea of people being able to purchase food, rather through their salary or a government program, increasing demand, which is stimulus in the very core sense? How about being able to hire firefighters, police, and keeping prison open? THOSE ARE JOBS!!!!!! Nelson and Collins aren’t worried about stimulating the economy – they are worried about appearing bi-partisan. They should both be told to sit down as they have had their fun and the grown-ups have serious work to do now.

Why Do The Republicans Want To Raise Taxes?

So it turns out that the big Republican stimulus package, rolled out by the House Republican leadership on the day of the stimulus vote, may have actually raised taxes. A staffer for the House Ways and Means committee email Greg Sargent this:

In 2008, 4.2 million Americans had to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). The Republican proposal would lower marginal tax rates for individuals, but would not reduce AMT rates. Current law requires you to pay the greater of the two rates, so many of those receiving this lower marginal rate would now be held liable for the AMT.

There is no question that Congress needs to — and will — act to prevent the number of taxpayers hit by the AMT from growing to an estimated 26 million this year. However, we confirmed with the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation that 26 million people would still be forced to pay the AMT this year under the GOP bill. Essentially, their tax bill would give with one hand and take away with the other, leaving 26 million families without the tax cut they promised in their bill.

Sounds like the typical kind of loophole we are used to seeing in these kind of packages. Of course the Republicans aren’t taking this, and a spokesman for Eric Cantor emailed Greg the following:

These are the type of untruths spread by House Democrats that continue to undermine President Obama’s desire to work together to provide real solutions to the challenges faced by hardworking Americans. This is nothing short of a total fabrication, as there will be no more people subjected to the AMT under the Republican jobs plan than the Democrat spending bill. In fact it is likely that the Republican plan would subject less to it.{[}]lt;/p>

“The Economy Is Strong”

The chatter around the blogosphere right now is about this:

Greg Sargent, blogging from his new digs, notes this:

Update: NRCC spokesperson Ken Spain sends over a response:

“The site is currently under construction. We are looking forward to relaunching the site and fostering a discussion on how Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues’ proposal to spend their way out of this recession is absurd at best and financially ruinous at worst.”

As it happens, though, the site was updated as late as yesterday, with…a discussion of Pelosi’s economic policies.

But there is something larger here. Is the NRCC saying that this message has been up since back when the economy was strong – hence pre-McCain “our economy is robust” comment that ultimately cost him the election? It would sure appear that way. So the Republicans are still licking their wounds of defeat from last November, while showing their disconnect with America and the voters. I hope they enjoy their minority status, because with talking points like this, it is here to stay.

James Carville And Paul Begala Banned At CNN

From Greg Sargent

Okay, this is interesting. I've just learned that CNN has told top Dem strategists James Carville, Paul Begala, and Robert Zimmerman -- who are CNN mainstays but are all Hillary supporters -- that they will not be doing any more political analysis on the network until the Democratic primary has reached a conclusion.

I'm also told that this move came after the Obama campaign repeatedly complained to high level officials at CNN about the presence of Carville and Begala on the network.

This has been brewing for months now. It's good to see CNN make the right decision in the matter.

I Support Mitt Romney!

No - not for President, but I am supporting him in this:

Talking Points Memo's Greg Sargent is reporting today that the Romney campaign has fired a broadside at Fox News, which issued a directive in the wake of John McCain's "Woodstock ad" forbidding the use of their footage for campaign advertisements.

Yes candidates should be allowed to use debate footage, as well as any citizen of this country. When deciding who will next lead out country, we should have access to all information.

One of the problems right now is that all the debates have been on cable, with the exception of one Democratic debate on PBS. Don't the citizens of this country without cable deserve access to these debates?

What we need is actual laws imposed, which should be part of a larger campaign reform action. In this section the debates should be aired on publicly accessible television and radio so all Americans have the chance to listen. There must not be any special rules for cable either. FOX News is trying to hijack our democracy like terrorists hijacked Afghanistan. It is time to put an end to that.

Of course I am sitting here thinking about all the grief the Democrats got for skipping the FOX debate. Gee - I guess the Republicans are feeling pretty foolish now - aren't they?

Sarah Palin Is Nothing But A Liar

Porter Goss Won’t Say If He Was Told About Torture

Growing A Better Blogosphere

Interesting New Legal Twists For The Blogosphere?

Public Anger Is Growing

Schools Build Themselves!

Why Do The Republicans Want To Raise Taxes?

“The Economy Is Strong”

James Carville And Paul Begala Banned At CNN

I Support Mitt Romney!

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