O'REILLY: The 'Fast and Furious' gun scandal has embarrassed the Obama administration and has put Attorney General Eric Holder's job in jeopardy. Mr. Obama has invoked executive privilege to prevent Congress from finding out whether Mr. Holder or his assistants were involved in the botched gun sting operation that led to the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.Okay Bill, let's say that is all true, which is very doubtful. So what, Obama ia a black man and maybe he stopped the DOJ from going after a few Black Panthers, who cares? Nobody but a few right-wing stooges, including Bill O'Reilly who are still reporting on this meaningless garbage 4 years after the fact. Earth to O'Reilly, get a life, nobody cares. The issues are the economy and jobs, jerk!
Now we have another potential scandal that most media outlets will not report to you. On Election Day in 2008 two Black Panthers stood outside a Philadelphia polling place acting in an intimidating manner. The Bush administration filed a civil complaint against the New Black Panther party for allegedly violating the Voter Rights Act; the Black Panthers did not show up for the court hearing and one was found guilty of a civil violation.
The Obama Justice Department refused to pursue criminal charges against the Black Panthers, although there was strong evidence that they did violate the law. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, who testified that politics were not involved, is now in big trouble because the watchdog organization Judicial Watch has obtained evidence that indicates political pressure was in play.
No matter what happens, this is another political embarrassment for the Obama administration and Attorney General Holder. There's no doubt those people were intruding upon a polling place, and now we find out that the decision not to prosecute had political implications. It's very bad news for Attorney General Holder and his friend, the President of the United States.
HANNA: I have to say that I'm frustrated by how much we -- I mean the Republican Party -- are willing to give deferential treatment to our extremes in this moment in historY.And Hanna is not alone, moderate members of the House GOP conference have also said that they feel Boehner, who has struggled with an often raucous and openly defiant right wing, has forced them to go along with conservative demands but has provided them little in return.
We render ourselves incapable of governing when all we do is take severe sides.
If all people do is go down there and join a team, and the team is invested in winning and you have something that looks very similar to the shirts and the skins, there's not a lot of value there.
I would say that the friends I have in the Democratic Party I find, much more congenial, a little less anger.
O'REILLY: Sarah Palin has become a very controversial figure, but four years ago few knew her. Then John McCain chose her as his running mate and, in hindsight, former Vice President Dick Cheney now says that was 'a mistake.'Now that's funny, Dick Cheney tells us what we already knew for 4 years, that the idiot Palin VP pick was a giant mistake by McCain. And of course O'Reilly can not admit it because he called Palin a smart and great woman. And btw, I said Romney would pick Rubio a year ago, and now O'Reilly is stealing my pick.
Talking Points believes Sarah Palin did help the McCain campaign and that the Republicans would not have defeated Barack Obama no matter who had been chosen. Going forward, Mitt Romney has a very important choice to make; his running mate must win him some votes.
Right now the names at the top of the list are Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Bob McDonnell, and Rob Portman. Senator Rubio is very popular among conservative Americans and would get Romney votes in the vital state of Florida; the downside is that he is inexperienced and has had some financial problems.
Congressman Ryan has credibility on the economy and may help deliver Wisconsin. Virginia Governor McDonnell has done well turning the economy around in his state, and Ohio Senator Portman has national experience in a variety of jobs.
Talking Points believes Senator Rubio would help Mitt Romney the most, but he would face massive media attacks. Is he ready to handle that? It's a tough question.
WILSON: The ability for someone to come in and, through fraud, dilute the voting pool is very present. I want to be able to give our government the ability to combat that, to give them the tools.In Wilson's made up scenario, a voter uses a fake ID to cast an extra vote. But his own argument rests on the idea that the requirement to show ID at the polls is necessary to combat rampant voter fraud and identity theft. But if you use that logic, voter ID laws would do nothing to prevent this threat.
It is very difficult to prove a negative. If Alan Wilson goes in and uses a fraudulent voter ID card under the name of John Smith and I vote under John Smith's name and then leave the polling place, you cannot go back in time and prove the negative. It is impossible.
It is very difficult to catch somebody in the act. But I hear countless stories of people who witnessed that.
OBAMA: We did not build this country on our own. We built it together. And if Mr. Romney doesn't understand that, then he doesn't understand what it takes to grow this economy in the 21st century for everybody.But the only way these comments can be portrayed as doubling down on an insult to business owners is to completely strip them of context. In the portion of Obama's speech that Fox chose to ignore, it's clear that he explicitly touted the "drive and ingenuity of Americans who start businesses" as crucial to "what makes us such a robust dynamic economy."
OBAMA: As I said, I believe with all my heart that it is the drive and ingenuity of Americans who start businesses that lead to their success. And by the way, that's why I've cut taxes on small businesses 18 times since I've been President.There you go O'Reilly, it's right there in black and white, PROOF Fox News dishonestly edited a statement from the President, so do your job and expose them as the biased frauds they are, haha, yeah right, and that will happen when I turn into a Karl Rove loving Republican.
I believe the ability for somebody who is willing to work hard, and sweat and sacrifice to turn their idea into a profitable business, that's what makes us such a robust, dynamic economy. We prize that.
But I also believe that if you talk to any business owner -- small or large -- they'll tell you what also helps them succeed alongside their hard work, their initiative, their great ideas, is the ability to hire workers with the right skills and the right education.
What helps them succeed is the ability to ship and sell their products on new roads and bridges and ports and wireless networks. What helps them succeed is having access to cutting-edge technology, which like the Internet often starts with publicly funded research and development.
And what helps them succeed is a strong and growing middle class, so they've got a broader base of customers.
O'REILLY: 27-year-old Andrew Goodman raped two boys, ages 11 and 13, over a period of four years. This savage pleaded guilty to 48 felony counts of criminal sexual acts, but New York State Judge Martin Murphy sentenced the monster to just two years in prison. Murphy gave Goodman the minimum sentence, but refuses to explain why.Then the Republican Megyn Kelly was on to discuss it, Kelly said this: "The sentence came down on July 12th, and you, Bill, brought this into the national eye on July 19th. The following Monday is when the feds got involved and did their first interview of Mr. Goodman. Now, instead of getting out in September, he will be transferred to federal custody and he's facing 10 years mandatory imprisonment."
Enter U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, who has charged Goodman with the federal crime of transporting a minor across state lines to engage in sexual activity. If convicted, Goodman could get at least ten years in a federal prison. Ms. Lynch is obviously doing this to protect children from Goodman, something Judge Murphy is unwilling to do.
She is a hero and should be respected by all Americans for standing up to a gross injustice. Finally, we see a public official willing to right a grievous wrong and we want the entire country to know it. What about New York Governor Andrew Cuomo? He remains silent in the face of a judicial atrocity that has embarrassed his state.
New York does not have Jessica's Law and Governor Cuomo does not seem to care; we challenge the Governor to stand up and protect the children. New Jersey also doesn't have Jessica's Law because one guy, Senate President Steve Sweeney, is blocking a vote. How cowardly is that?
We have a petition on BillOReilly.com we'd like you to sign so we can give it to Governors Cuomo and Christie.
OBAMA: Look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.Fox cherry picked this one line: "If you've got a business -- you didn't build that."
If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges.
If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don't do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.
O'REILLY: A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll says President Obama is ahead of Mitt Romney 49% - 43%. However, in a Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll among likely voters, Mitt Romney leads 47% - 44%. So what is going on?And that is what you call right-wing spin from O'Reilly, Billy said this: "The truth is, nobody knows who is ahead, the campaign is very fluid right now." But we do know, the polls have Obama ahead by 4 to 6 points, O'Reilly even quoted the right-wing WSJ and still could not admit Obama is ahead.
First, the NBC poll is 'registered voters,' not 'likely voters.' Second, there is an 11 point difference, with more Democrats than Republicans being polled. It's not that they stacked the deck; it's just that the random sample came out that way.
The truth is, nobody knows who is ahead, the campaign is very fluid right now. What Talking Points does know is that many voters have no clue what is going on in the country. Last night we told you that 35% of American homes are now receiving welfare payments; 50 years ago that number was 6%. And more workers are on disability than at any other time in the nation's history.
Our society is changing from self-reliance to 'give me stuff!' Not everybody on disability is gaming the system and not every family on welfare is taking advantage of taxpayers, but the trend is undeniable. Under President Obama, and even under President Bush the younger, America has moved toward government dependence.
That's the primary reason we have $16 trillion in debt and the workplace is stagnant. That's also the reason President Obama's poll numbers remain competitive, even in the face of a terrible economy. Millions of Americans simply want the government to provide, and the President is the provider-in-chief. The 100-million Americans receiving welfare are not likely to be supporting Mitt Romney.
1. Big banks manage the wealth. The three private banks handling the most assets offshore are UBS, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs.This tax avoidance study comes at a time when many are questioning presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's use of tax havens. As an executive at Bain Capital, Romney routed investments through companies in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands to allow investors to avoid U.S. taxes.
2. Offshore wealth is creating a global economic black hole. If the $21 trillion in offshore earned a conservatively-estimated 3 percent rate of return, and that income was taxed at just 30 percent, this would generate tax revenues of nearly $200 billion -- roughly twice the amount OECD countries spend on international development assistance.
3. High impact on developing countries. In the 139 developing countries highlighted in the report, the richest citizens had amassed $7.3 to $9.3 trillion of unrecorded offshore wealth that is beyond the reach of local tax authorities. The report reveals that many developing debtor countries are actually quite wealthy, but the money is held by a few individuals.
4. Huge tax haven growth in the last few years. In 2005, the world's top 50 banks managed $5.4 trillion in offshore money. By the end of 2010, the figure is over $12 trillion, representing an average annual growth rate of more than 16 percent.
O'REILLY: Fifty years ago, just 6% of Americans received welfare. Most families didn't have very much but made do without taking from other people...[And] nobody complained...Wow is that ridiculous, O'Reilly is pretty much saying everyone who gets any Government money is weak and a bad person. Even the disabled and the people who can not work for medical reasons. And that's not all, a couple weeks ago O'Reilly said everyone on disability is a faker. But he never speculates, and he only reports the facts. Yeah right! And I'm Bill Gates too.
"Now 35% of American homes receive some kind of welfare and that does not include social security or Medicare, which we, the American workers, pay into. Talking points is not talking about that. No, I'm talking about the more than 100 million Americans who are currently getting taxpayer funds from other Americans because they can't or won't earn enough to support themselves.
"President Obama wants to re-distribute income and impose social justice through taxing the wealthy and business concerns. But Mr. Obama cannot possibly believe that a giant welfare state leads to strength. It does not - it leads to weakness.
O'REILLY: Predictably, far-left ideologues are demagoging the mass murder in Colorado. They want gun control imposed on the country. Uber-liberal Bill Moyers has no clue. He apparently believes that federal and state governments can actually control gun crimes.First, O'Reilly is an idiot if he thinks all liberals think new guns laws should be passed, because they dont. I am a liberal and I know that gun laws do not work, so as usual O'Reilly lumps all liberals in together as one voice. Second, notice that O'Reilly did not say a word about making those big ammo clips illegal, that would also help. And third, I oppose the assault rifle ban, because it will not work.
That's so dumb it hurts...
Alright here's the deal: anyone who sells a heavy weapon or ammo should be compelled to report the sale to the FBI. It's a felony if you don't. That just makes sense in this age of terrorism.
Congress should pass two laws. First, the heavy weapon reporting. And second, if you commit a crime, like a robbery with a gun, it becomes a federal offense with a mandatory 10 year prison sentence upon conviction. That would dent the problem. But the truth is criminals will always get guns, always.
The Second Amendment is there for a reason. The Founding Fathers firmly believed that Americans should have the right to protect themselves. Finally, most Americans do not want more gun laws.
According to a Pew poll taken in April, 49% do not want the government intruding on gun ownership, 45% do. The folks know that government cannot protect you from monsters like James Holmes in Colorado
Despite earning a record $4.9 billion profit last year and projecting even better results for 2012, the company is insisting on a six-year wage freeze and a pension freeze for most of the 780 production workers at its factory here. Caterpillar says it needs to keep its labor costs down to ensure its future competitiveness."A company that earned a record $4.9 billion in 2011 and $1.586 billion in the first quarter of this year should be willing to help the workers who made those profits for them," said Timothy O'Brien, president of Machinists Local Lodge 851.
Caterpillar, which has significantly raised its executives compensation because of its strong profits, defended its demands, saying many unionized workers were paid well above market rates.
FORD: American manufacturers are at a distinct disadvantage to competitors headquartered in other countries. Specifically, foreign manufacturers uniformly face a lower corporate tax rate than U.S. manufacturers, and virtually all operate under territorial systems which encourage investment both abroad and at home.Ford told the committee that Corning paid an effective tax rate of 36 percent in 2011, but she is counting taxes on profits earned overseas that have not yet been paid and won't be unless the company decides to bring the money back to the United States.
ROLLINS: Her unsubstantiated charge against Abedin, a widely respected top aide to Secretary Hillary Clinton, accusing her of some sort of far-fetched connection to the Muslim brotherhood, is extreme and dishonest.Rollins comments are the most forceful condemnation yet of Bachmann's decision to submit a letter to several national security agencies in which she and three other congressmen claim (without a shred of evidence) that the Muslim Brotherhood had infiltrated the US government by securing senior-level positions in various government agencies.
Having worked for Congressman Bachman's campaign for president, I am fully aware that she sometimes has difficulty with her facts, but this is downright vicious and reaches the late Senator Joe McCarthy level.
O'REILLY: Bad things happen to good people all the time, and nobody knows why. Once again we have mass murder in America, and the killer is a young man who is simply out of his mind. It's nobody's fault, there's no policy deficit, it's just an atrocity that's impossible to explain.Then O'Reilly discussed the atrocity and its aftermath with Fox News correspondent Jon Scott, a Colorado native who spoke from the crime scene.
24-year-old James Holmes allegedly killed 12 people and wounded 59 others in a Colorado movie theater. So once again we have a crazy guy causing a massive amount of pain and destruction.
O'REILLY: The President's comments about success in America are important because they show how he really feels about capitalism. The President is a 'reluctant capitalist,' a man who believes our economic system is stacked against the poor and working class and always has been.And once again O'Reilly is lying, because the President's spending policies have helped the economy and a lot of the debt is from the Bush tax cuts and other things Bush did when he was President, like wars. O'Reilly is spinning for Romney, which is sad, because he claims to be a non-partisan Independent who does not use RNC talking points, then he does just that. In fact, he might as well be working for the Romney campaign.
He believes American capitalism is often predatory, rewarding the wealthy and exploiting the workers. So he wants to restrain capitalism through taxation. If you score big, he wants a big piece of the action so he can give what you get to other people.
I see no evidence that he wants to seize private property, which is what communists do; also, the feds are not running the Fox News Channel, as they would be in a socialistic system. I may be wrong, but I think Mr. Obama allows historical grievances to shape his economic thinking. Rather than seeing the USA as basically noble, he gives the bad things about America too much weight, leading to his desire to redistribute wealth and correct those grievances.
The President's big spending policies have not helped the economy and have run up enormous debt, which threatens each and every one of us. In order to defeat the President, Mitt Romney will have to convince you that we will all be better under robust capitalism, that the private marketplace will rebound and create decent-paying jobs.
The President will counter with the status quo, which of course is shaky. Summing up, Mr. Obama is not a socialist, he's not a communist, he's a social justice anti-capitalist.
O'REILLY: So they want electric cars, but Bush was in this, too. Bush was in this too.Politifact clarified that Fisker's loan was funded by a program that started under the Bush administration and that the Obama stimulus bill had nothing to do with it:
DOBBS: Bush himself was not in this.
O'REILLY: All right, not in the Bush administration? My notes are no good?
DOBBS: No, your notes are very good. The problem with it is that this money was dispatched by the Obama administration.
DOBBS: All right. All right, so let's blame it all on Barack Obama.
Fisker received a loan guarantee for the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program through the Energy Department. And it was not funded by Obama's stimulus bill of 2009.During the segment no one made clear that no federal funding went toward the Finnish plant. O'Reilly even wrongly claimed we sent money to Finland:
It is, in fact, a program signed by President George W. Bush in 2007 and first funded by legislation Bush signed in 2008.
The program was designed to support development of advanced technology vehicles. The Bush administration was in charge when the automaker filed its application. The Obama administration was in charge when the company's loan was approved. And the Obama stimulus bill had nothing to do with it.
O'REILLY: But why did we send money to Finland then? Why?As the New York Times and others have repeatedly pointed out, Fisker and the Energy Department say that Fisker's loan went towards U.S. projects:
DOBBS: They gave it to Fisker and that's the way it is.
O'REILLY: This is crazy.
The ad's claim that stimulus money went to "electric cars from Finland" is false, according to the car's manufacturer and the Energy Department. The struggling company, Fisker Automotive, received approval from Obama administration officials for $529 million in government loans under a George W. Bush-era program, not the Obama stimulus.The Firm That O'Reilly Suggested Was Full Of "Big Obama Guys" Also Employs Republican Donors.
Most of that loan has been suspended. The $193 million actually lent to Fisker was spent in the United States, not at its plant in Finland, according to Fisker and the Energy Department. Fisker's investors include firms whose executives have donated to both parties.
O'REILLY: Last night Charles Krauthammer predicted President Obama would win if the election were held right now. However, Karl Rove disagrees and believes Romney would win. Talking Points believes Barack Obama would not carry one state that voted for John McCain last time around; therefore, Mitt Romney begins with 173 electoral votes.My God, can O'Reilly be any more of a right-wing Romney butt-kisser, in the zone? what does that even mean? I don't see how, when he is losing 333 to 205. To begin with, O'Reilly, Rove and Morris are all wrong. Because the current electoral college map projections ALL have Obama winning 333 to 205, not one electoral map projection has Romney winning, none, zero.
I also think the President will lose North Carolina, New Hampshire and Indiana, which brings Governor Romney up to 203 electoral votes, with 270 needed to win. He can gain 60 electoral votes if he wins Ohio, Virginia and Florida, which would leave him just seven electoral votes from the presidency. So you can see that President Obama has very little margin for error.
Florida is most likely to go to Romney - the economy is shaky and the minority vote for Obama will not be as great as it was in 2008. Ohio has Republican John Kasich as governor and the economy is improving there, so Romney has a very good chance. Virginia is a wild card, but again its controlled by a Republican governor who has improved the economy in his state.
So going forward, Mitt Romney is in pretty good shape, according to Karl Rove's map. With all due respect to Charles Krauthammer, at this point I think Romney might be in the zone.
O'REILLY: There's a big debate because President Obama is putting forth that affluent Americans owe their country more than they're giving. The President said, 'If you've got a business, you didn't build that, somebody else made that happen.'Earth to O'Reilly, Obama did not say small business owners didn't build their business, he said they didn't build it all alone, they had help, get it right, liar. All Obama said is that the infrastructure in America helps them get rich, and that a lot of the wealthy do not pay their fair share of taxes after they use tricks and loopholes to lower them. And he is right, so get over it you right-wing hack.
Apparently the President believes the federal government should take more in taxes from wealthy Americans and business owners because the feds make individual success possible. Here's my take: No man is an island, that's true, but individual achievement is just that.
Barack Obama did not help me develop The Factor; no federal agency helped me go to college. I paid my own way by painting houses. Yes, the Founding Fathers gave me freedom of speech to bloviate and I owe a debt of gratitude to my country for that. I am grateful and I am willing to pay 40% of my wages to the powers that be.
But President Obama wants far more than that, and I believe that punishes achievement. Because of my personal success, I employ a lot of people. Because of the Fox News Channel's success, it provides jobs for thousands of Americans. I pay my taxes and I give millions of dollars to charity.
I give back, but not enough for President Obama. He wants me and other high-income folks to finance a massive redistribution of wealth in this country. The Congressional Budget Office reports that the richest 5% in this country pay 64% of all federal income tax, so there's no question that affluent Americans are paying their fair share.
Most wealthy Americans are not evading their responsibility, but that's not what the President is saying. He wants to redistribute income on the backs of the achievers.
O'REILLY: According to an analysis by FactCheck.org, Bain Capital did invest in companies that did outsource.Now if you wanted proof O'Reilly is a right-wing spin doctor, there it is, right there. O'Reilly is spinning so much for Romney he should get paid as a political advisor for the Romney campaign.
But that's not unusual; so did the Obama administration, which has continued to make billions of taxpayer dollars available to General Electric, including grants for 'green energy' projects.
GE employs about 300,000 people, but fewer than half work in the USA. GE has plants in 43 countries and keeps overseas profits overseas, thereby avoiding U.S. income tax.
Here's the end game: Outsourcing is a fact of life in capitalism. The Obama administration has embraced corporations that embrace outsourcing, and so did Mitt Romney. So I'd call it a tie, with the Obama campaign having some deep explaining to do.
HUME: One begins to sense that the public thinks this is phony. This has been going on for some weeks and the Obama campaign has spent a lot of money hurling these charges related to Bain Capital, but it hasn't seemed to move the needle of public opinion. The Romney campaign seems to be keeping their powder dry and holding their money until later.Here is a headline that proves Brit Hume is a lying right-wing idiot:
O'REILLY: The Obama campaign is making a big deal out of Mitt Romney's Bain Capital tenure, accusing him of being a big 'outsourcing' guy who sent jobs abroad. According to an analysis by FactCheck.org, Bain Capital did invest in companies that did outsource.Well it's official, O'Reilly is a total right-wing stooge who is in bed with Mitt Romney. Because it is ridiculous to compare the Government making billions of taxpayer dollars available to General Electric, who then used some of that money to do things in plants that were not in America.
But that's not unusual; so did the Obama administration, which has continued to make billions of taxpayer dollars available to General Electric, including grants for 'green energy' projects.
GE employs about 300,000 people, but fewer than half work in the USA. GE has plants in 43 countries and keeps overseas profits overseas, thereby avoiding U.S. income tax. In fact, General Electric paid zero federal income tax in 2010. Nevertheless, President Obama is a huge fan of GE and its CEO Jeffrey Immelt, saying 'GE has something to teach business all across America.'
Talking Points would like to know exactly what GE could teach corporations. How to create jobs overseas? How to avoid U.S. taxes? How to borrow billions from the taxpayer? What lessons are we talking about, Mr. President?
Here's the end game: Outsourcing is a fact of life in capitalism. The Obama administration has embraced corporations that embrace outsourcing, and so did Mitt Romney. So I'd call it a tie, with the Obama campaign having some deep explaining to do.
OBAMA: If you've got a business, you didn't build that, somebody else made that happen.Gretchen Carlson reacted by calling the very misleading clip startling, before hosting a biased small business owner who switched from the Democratic party to the Republican party.
(Other text Fox & Friends Edited out)
The point is that, when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.
OBAMA: Look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.Selectively editing Obama's comments is normal business for the dishonest and biased Fox & Friends. This example of dishonest editing is a part of Fox's regular practice of accusing Obama of attacking small business.
If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don't do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.
So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That's how we funded the GI Bill. That's how we created the middle class. That's how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That's how we invented the Internet. That's how we sent a man to the moon.
We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that's the reason I'm running for President -- because I still believe in that idea. You're not on your own, we're in this together.
Here's what he should do. He should release the tax returns tomorrow. This is crazy, you've got to release 6, 8, 10 years of back tax returns. Take the hit for a day or two. Then give a serious speech on Thursday.Kristol joins Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and strategist Ana Navarro as other Republicans calling on Romney to release his tax returns.
-- Mitt Romney left Bain Capital later than he claims. Securities and Exchange Commission documents show that Romney remained Bain's chairman and president, owning 100 percent of Bain as late as 2002, the Boston Globe reports.So what we have is a liar, and a man who helped (China) take American jobs out of the country. While making millions off the investment, which in my world is borderline treason, especially when it involves China.
Romney said he left in February 1999 in order to deny that he is responsible for Bain layoffs or outsourcing.
-- Mitt Romney said he created 100,000 jobs at Bain. But he downgraded that number to thousands after even Sarah Palin doubted it.
And btw, his own campaign now admits the number is completely bogus. Romney's tally did not even begin to include the thousands of layoffs at companies in which Bain invested.
-- Mitt Romney said none of his business investments were responsible for outsourcing any American jobs. And now we know that's a lie. Romney's campaign even tried to have the Washington Post retract its story on his outsourcing record.
The paper, however, refused, after the Romney camp could not provide any credible evidence to contradict the Post's reporting.
While Mitt Romney led Bain Capital, an affiliate company of Bain bought a large stake in a Chinese venture that counted on American companies sending manufacturing jobs to China.Then on Thursday it was reported that Mitt Romney remained at the head of Bain Capital for as many as three years longer than his campaign claimed calls into question the Romney's past defense of Bain Capital's job-killing business practices.
The deal runs counter to Romney's tough talk on the campaign trail regarding China. "We will not let China continue to steal jobs from the United States of America," Romney declared in February.
With this investment, Romney sought to profit from a foreign company that banked on American firms outsourcing manufacturing overseas.
On April 17, 1998, Brookside Capital Partners Fund, a Bain Capital affiliate, filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission noting that it had acquired stock in the Hong Kong-based Global-Tech Appliances, which manufactured household appliances in a production facility in the industrial city of Dongguan, China.
That August, according to another SEC filing, Brookside upped its interest in Global-Tech and bought more of their stocks. Both SEC filings identified Romney as the person in control of this investment:
"Mr. W. Mitt Romney is the sole shareholder, sole director, President and Chief Executive Officer of Brookside Inc. and thus is the controlling person of Brookside Inc."
OREILLY: As we reported last night, Mitt Romney was kind of brave to go to the NAACP convention, where he knew he would be speaking to folks who very much like President Obama. But the analysis of Mr. Romney's speech is fascinating and says some very unflattering things about America.And as I reported here O'Reilly was a right-wing fool to say Romney was brave to speak at the NAACP.
NBC News owns a website directed mostly at African Americans; one of its employees went on TV yesterday and said Mitt Romney failed to speak about 'how we fix basic public education.' Either she missed it or she is not being honest, because during his speech the Governor spoke to the education issue. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the speech 'a calculated move on his part to get booed at the NAACP convention.'
Why would any politician want to get booed? The former Speaker of the House seems to believe that Governor Romney wanted to get scorned so people who don't like blacks would rally to his cause. That's an underlying theme being put out by the far left, that Romney wanted to be received poorly so anti-black people would vote for him.
I want to make it clear that no one in the Obama campaign is saying that, but others are clearly implying there was a racial component to the Governor's appearance in Houston. In a fair country, that innuendo is absolutely unacceptable.
O'REILLY: 95% of African American voters supported Barack Obama in 2008, but this time around Mitt Romney apparently thinks he can do better. The black unemployment rate is 14.4%, as opposed to 12.7% when Mr. Obama took office. So it's obvious that the scenario for black American voters is much different than it was four years ago, and today Governor Romney made that case to the NAACP.Now that was a good one, O'Reilly wrote an entire talking points memo defending Romney, which he has never done for Obama about anything ever. Proving once again that O'Reilly is a Republican who supports Romney. Billy keeps calling the economy bad, when it's not, it's not bad, it's average.
He knew he would not be received well there, but he also knows that if he wins the election he'll be president to all Americans. The problem is that most African Americans believe the Republican Party does not value them, and certainly some African Americans cast their ballots along color lines. The good news for Mr. Romney is that African Americans will not decide the election this year; many analysts believe fewer of them will vote for Barack Obama.
Because of the bad economy and because the President has not actively supported black special interest groups, some blacks will walk away. By the way, Mr. Obama has largely kept his promise to be a 'color-blind' President. Summing up, Mitt Romney was brave to go to the convention in Houston. It won't change many hearts and minds, but the symbolism of him being there is a positive thing.
How do current changes in the medical system affect your desire to practice medicine?So they're just assuming every respondent, upon reading "current changes in the medical system," thought about Obamacare and nothing else?
-- I'm re-energized - 4.6%
-- Makes me think about quitting - 82.6%
-- Unsure/no opinion - 12.8%
The survey was conducted by fax and online from April 18 to May 22, 2012. DPMAF obtained the office fax numbers of 36,000 doctors in active clinical practice, and 16,227 faxes were successfully delivered.Yes, you read that right. They did the survey by Fax, and only 4.3% of the doctors even sent the survey back in. So let me get this straight, they say 83% of the doctors will quit based on the surverys from 4.3% of the doctors.
Doctors were asked to return their completed surveys by fax, or online at a web address included in the faxed copy. Browser rules prevented doctors from filing duplicate surveys, and respondents were asked to provide personal identification for verification.
The response rate was 4.3% for a total of 699 completed surveys.
O'REILLY: A new ABC News poll says nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the USA is on the wrong track, and among independents a whopping 70% feel America is on the decline. But one group happy about the state of the union is liberal Democrats - 66% of them approve of the country's direction.Hey O'Reilly, the economy is not awful as you claim. The economy is doing ok, it's not as good as people want it to be but it's not awful, you right-wing idiot. Awful is what we had under Bush, but you never called it awful then. So you are a fool and a right-wing spin doctor.
The liberal statistic isn't surprising because President Obama and the Democrats have changed the direction of the country. The President is promoting a variety of nanny state programs which liberals love. But for many folks, things are grim and the primary reason is the economy. In addition to the awful economy, we are seeing a big social change; younger Americans are now addicted to high-tech.
When you have millions of citizens living in fantasy worlds generated by personal computers, you have a distracted country. America is not yet close to collapse, but we're in trouble. If President Obama is reelected, the national debt could rise to more than $20-trillion before he leaves office. We're also a divided nation, and this election is going to be close.
While President Obama rails against the wealthy, the affluent are carrying the vast financial burden in this country. All in all, these are not good days for the most powerful country on earth, and some cynics believe we will not wear that mantle much longer.
O'REILLY: "What Bernie and I are trying to get across every week is that many powerful people in the media don't want to tell the truth to the people. It's more important to them to get their ideology in play than to let the folks know what the truth is, and that's a total change from what the media was thirty or forty years ago."And on June 23rd O'Reilly complained about the liberal bias in the media saying this:
"The liberal media wants to re-elect President Obama."Bernie Goldberg said this:
GOLDBERG: "From time to time the media will be tough on Barack Obama. But if there's a suggestion that this may be the beginning of a historic change in how the so-called mainstream media treats liberal Democrats like Barack Obama, no way is that happening!"And that is all right-wing lies, spin, and propaganda from O'Reilly and Goldberg. Because findings from a new media study released in June by PEW show that the Republican Mitt Romney has received substantially better press coverage this year than President Obama.
The assessments of the president in the media were substantially more negative than positive in every one of the 23 weeks studied. In no one week during these five months was more than 10% of the coverage about the President positive in tone.In 2011, only Newt Gingrich, whose campaign was crashing at the time, received more negative press than Obama did during the time frame studied by Pew. And you never hear a word about any of this from O'Reilly or Bernie Goldberg, ever, not one word.
Of all the presidential candidates studied in this report, only one figure did not have a single week in 2012 when positive coverage exceeded negative coverage, the Democrat Barack Obama.The Pew findings are clear: The Democratic president Barack Obama has been hammered with negative press coverage.
O'REILLY: President Obama has opened a new front in his battle against Mitt Romney by going back to the 'tax-the-rich' mantra. So say hello once again to our little friend, class warfare. But the ghost of Ronald Reagan may be haunting President Obama. 32 years ago America was also in trying economic times - President Jimmy Carter had expanded the federal government and lost control of the private sector.And that my friends is nothing but right-wing propaganda. Because O'Reilly never said a word about Bill Clinton raising taxes on the wealthy and then getting 8 years of economic boom with a massive 22 million new jobs added. O'Reilly ignored it all, and he also ignored the fact that Ronald Reagan raised taxes 12 times, O'Reilly never said a word about that.
Unemployment and inflation were very big problems and challenger Ronald Reagan took full advantage. In his inaugural address, Reagan said the tax system 'penalizes successful achievement.' He dropped the federal income tax rate for the highest earners from 70% to 28% and kept the federal government mostly in check during his eight years in office, adding about 12,000 workers in that time.
By contrast, Jimmy Carter added almost 100,000 federal jobs in just four years. During President Obama's first three years in office, the feds have added about 130,000 employees, more than ten times what Reagan added in eight years. So you can see that Mr. Obama's philosophy is the exact opposite of Mr. Reagan's.
History shows that President Reagan was successful in reviving the economy, which is why President Obama's policies are a bit perplexing. Since June of 2009 there have been 2.6 million jobs created, but 3.1 million people have gone on disability. The math is clear - American workers are leaving their jobs to get paid by the taxpayers, which is a disaster for America.
Yet Mr. Obama continues to believe he can tax his way out of the situation. But suppose Mr. Obama gets his way and is able to raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year. That would generate about $85 billion a year in increased revenue, which is what the feds spend every eight-and-a-half days.
So it's all a ruse! Let me ask you - if Ronald Reagan was successful in reviving the American economy by dropping tax rates for everybody, why would anyone think President Obama can revive the economy by doing the opposite?
Talking Points would support federal tax hikes on the wealthy if I thought it would help the folks, but there's no evidence that more revenue to the government would do anything other than allow President Obama to hire even more federal workers. This is 1980 all over again!
As a state with a history of voter discrimination, Texas must get preclearance from the Department of Justice for changes in election law.In his defense of Texas' voter ID law, Sekulow said this: "Look, voting is a privilege. I mean, there are things you have to do to vote."
The DOJ blocked Texas law under Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, declaring that it would disproportionately affect Hispanic voters.
As more states put in place strict voter ID rules, an AP review of temporary ballots from Indiana and Georgia, which first adopted the most stringent standards, found that more than 1,200 such votes were tossed during the 2008 general election.And the Brennan Center for Justice estimated that 3.2 million potential voters lack state-issued photo ID and could be affected by voter ID laws passed in five states since 2010.
During primaries this year in Georgia, Indiana and Tennessee, the states implementing the toughest laws, hundreds more ballots were blocked.
The numbers suggest that the legitimate votes rejected by the laws are far more numerous than are the cases of fraud that advocates of the rules say they are trying to prevent. Thousands more votes could be in jeopardy for this November, when more states with larger populations are looking to have similar rules in place.
Among the bills vetoed was one requiring photo ID for first voter registration or to obtain an absentee ballot, a requirement that African-American activists claimed was an attempt to deter voting by the urban poor.Laws requiring residents to present state-issued photo IDs tend to disproportionately effect low-income American citizens -- who also tend to vote Democratic -- because they often lack the resources and the time to acquire the proper documentation.
Snyder said this: "I appreciate the issue of ensuring voters are eligible and U.S. citizens, however this legislation could create voter confusion among absentee voters."
O'REILLY: Unfortunately, I have to be Paul Revere and tell you the country is in steep decline. Twenty years ago, in June 1992, there were 3.4 million Americans receiving federal disability payments; today that number is 8.7 million. It seems to me safety rules are much improved since 1992, so why has the disability rate increased more than 100%? It's a con!Now think about this folks, when Bush was ruining the country from 2000 until 2009, and Democrats said the country is going downhill, O'Reilly called them traitors for saying bad things about our great country. Now he is doing the very same thing he called them traitors and America haters for.
It's easy to put in a bogus disability claim. In 1984, 85% of American workers paid federal income tax; now 51% pay income tax. Why? Because of 'social justice.' The feds are allowing Americans who don't make much money to pay no income tax.
Right now President Obama and the Democratic Party lead the league in entitlement spending and promoting a nanny state philosophy, but President Bush didn't do much to head that off, so both parties bear some responsibility. However, it is the liberal Democratic machine that continues to promote selfishness, that continues to tell Americans that the wealthy should pay all the bills and the less well off should expect free stuff.
The disability con is just one of many. There is enormous Medicare fraud, Medicaid chaos, and a huge rise in food stamp use. Talking Points believes a Democrat, John F. Kennedy, had the right idea about America when he said, 'Ask not what your country can do for you.'
I want to ask each of the more than 8-million American workers currently receiving disability payments from the federal government: Are you guys honoring JFK's legacy?
O'REILLY: Senior citizens are very, very worried, that their premiums are going to go up, and that they're going to be tossed off the rolls if they get cancer or something like that.And if you two right-wing idiots think senior citizens trust Romney more than Obama to deal with medicare, you need a check up from the neck up.
HUME: No they're not. Bill, they all have Medicare, nobody is proposing to change that except Obama who wants to take $500 billion out of it.
HUME: They have at least one or two bullet points, but one thing that Romney is for is not taking $500 billion out of Medicare, which is what worries a lot of senior citizens about Obamacare.
O'REILLY: Chief Justice John Roberts' ruling maintaining the legality of Obamacare is actually a conservative decision. He did not want to overturn a law that had been passed by Congress and he searched for a way not to strike the law down. Initially he wanted no part of Obamacare, but the Chief Justice changed his mind when presented with the taxation option.In all that right-wing spin, O'Reilly forgot one thing. Only a very small percentage of the people will pay the so-called penalty/tax because they estimate that 99% of the people will get health care insurance, that means only 1% or less will pay the penalty/tax. So O'Reilly and the right are crying about this for 1% or less of the people. And btw, I am a liberal and I was opposed to the mandate and the penalty, so not all liberals supported it as O'Reilly implies.
Yes, Congress does have the right to tax, even punitively, and that's what Roberts has upheld. By fining Americans who do not buy health care, the feds are punishing them, using taxes as the weapon. That's been done before; the huge tax on tobacco is a great example. But there's one big difference - nobody can force us to buy tobacco products, but the government is forcing us to buy health insurance.
It's hard to believe that Justice Roberts does not understand the enormous power he has delivered to the federal government. According to his reasoning, the feds can now use the IRS to hurt any American who does not do what the feds think they should do. The punitive aspect of government power is something that America has always used sparingly, but no longer.
We either buy the mandated health insurance or we get punished! So what should conservatives do about John Roberts? Hate him? Talking Points says no. The Chief Justice made a mistake, but he did so to avoid judicial activism. Instead of name-calling, the right must put forth something better than Obamacare, but so far the GOP is not off to a good start.
There is a change taking place in Washington, where the liberal Obama administration has greatly expanded federal power. The good news is that we the people can change the course of the country by voting in November. That's the American way and, ironically, that is the message John Roberts is sending us, whether he means to or not.
BARTLETT: Aggregate demand simply means spending -- spending by households, businesses and governments for consumption goods and services or investments in structures, machinery and equipment.A Gallup survey of small businesses shows that 71 percent of small businesses that are not looking to hire new employees are holding back on hiring because there isn't enough demand to justify new hires.
At the moment, businesses don't need to invest because their biggest problem is a lack of consumer demand, as a July 21 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York documented.