This is the whole video, but if you go to about the 16 minute mark you'll get treated to the full version of Senator Ron Johnson's inner loathing for women, poor women in particular.

Here's the transcript:

One of the first people I met on the campaign trail was a state senator. His entire stump speech talked about a single mom working hard, who we have a great deal of sympathy for. She makes $15,000 part time; doesn’t pay tax, she gets the earned income tax credit. Then he totals up the dollar value for benefits. His figure came to about $51,000; I’ve kind of gone back and I calculated about $43,000. I asked my audience, now if she wants to increase her take-home pay, what does she do? She has another child out of wedlock, right?

Audience Member: Yes.

Senator Ron Johnson: If she wants to lose it all, she finds somebody to support her and she gets married.

Audience Member: Right.

Senator Ron Johnson: Now, unless we, as a society, are willing to take a look at that, and honestly, with our eyes wide open, take a look at the effect of the unintended consequences of all of our good intentions, we’re never going to solve these problems. That’s some of the information we’ve got to convey. So we’ve got a lot of challenges ahead of us here.

Let's get real. Ron Johnson has ZERO sympathy for single moms. In his heart of hearts they're sluts and slackers. They're moochers and we've got to deal with them, people!

More fundamentally, in Johnson's view we shouldn't be supporting them because for them welfare is a job and motherhood is a pay raise. This, from the "family values" guy who would deny women the right to an abortion and then kick them in the head for daring to have a baby and needing help raising it.

In context, Johnson's entire speech was framed to tell rich people to kick middle class and poor folks around because liberty means business being in control. His constituents aren't that single mom; they're the Business Roundtable and the US Chamber of Commerce.

He should remember that even WalMart is panicking because that welfare mom isn't spending the way they hope.

Let that inner pig out, Senator Johnson, for all to see.

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The irony of this little Sean Hannity rant is almost too much for one sitting. While calling President Obama "the Anointed One", calling him a radical left-wing failure, and ranting about how the President wants to take away free speech, Hannity breathlessly (and shamelessly) claims that Fox News is the "only media channel that has delivered fair and balanced coverage" of the president.

He's serious. He delivers that message with bright-eyed ferocity in response to the president's fairly mild remarks to The New Republic in an interview last week. According to Hannity, the reason the country is divided is because President Obama's rhetoric is too polarizing.

In Hannity's world, the fact that someone dares to disagree with the Supreme Conservative Voices in this country means they're a polarizing force responsible for all of the division in this country. No one else, and especially not Fox News, is responsible for any of the divide.

He ends with this: "While he's so busy bashing the first and second amendments of the constitution, sorry, Mr. President, we're going to continue on this program to do our part to save America from your radical agenda."

Gee, that's not divisive at all. Not even a little bit, right? The unbalanced rants of Sean Hannity are all the evidence anyone needs of who it is who divides, and who doesn't.

Update: Kirsten Powers whines about how the president is trying to undermine a "legitimate news organization". Let's be honest, Kirsten. Fox News is an opinion organization. Not news.

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If you want to understand the source of the world's problems, follow the Davos coverage by CNN and Bloomberg News for a few days. Not only will they tell you what the source is, they'll prove that your instincts are right about billionaires and those who present them as the arbiters of all things fair and right.

Davos is the annual billionaires' conclave where they network, get their message straight, gladhand hungry politicians, and try to determine our fate. Ladies and gentlemen, our problem isn't what the billionaires think it is. Our problem is the billionaires.

Last year, the billionaires were obsessing on income inequality. Following the Occupy protests, they saw it as a source of instability and actually, for a short moment, thought it might be something they should try to solve. At least, that's how our corporate media spun it for us. This year, nary a peep out of them about income inequality. No, this year was all fearmongering over the US budget deficit and the European debt crisis.

Donohue on deficits and cuts

Ali Velshi spoke to US Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue on Friday about his solutions to the deficit problem. After the requisite hand-wringing about unemployment rates in Europe which have come about largely because the billionaires forced austerity on Greece, Spain and Italy, Donohue turned to the United States budget deficit, where he drew a distinction between European austerity and American austerity measures.

Donohue explained that American austerity measures involve "the spending that is automatic and that is entitlements -- Social Security a little bit, but primarily Medicare -- and it goes up, up, up."

Is Donohue suggesting that on that basis, it's not really austerity because it's cuts to necessities, so people will pay with or without the social safety net. Really?

We all know better, and we also know that health care spending has decreased during this recession. Not because costs have decreased, but because people are foregoing health care in order to save money. So sure, billionaires, take aim at the two government programs reaching the most people and doing the most good. That makes a ton of sense, right?

Donohue insists that longer life expectancies require lawmakers to "turn the curve down." I will let you speculate on how cutting Medicare might affect life expectancies, and whether that's what Donohue means by turning the curve down.

Keep in mind, this comes from a guy who was paid nearly $5 million dollars in salary in 2010 from a trade organization that spends millions to elect wingnuts to Congress. What the heck does he know about what that "small" Social Security cut and larger Medicare cut would do to anyone?

Donohue: Fracking is our future

All is not lost, peasants. Tom Donohue has the answer to our economic woes. All we need to do, according to the God of Commerce, is open federal lands and frack the hell out of them. Really. Here is his claim, verbatim:

Fracking, for example, has created 1.75 million jobs in less than two years. There's billions and billions of dollars going to the states and the federal coffers. We have more energy than anybody in the world and, if we, in an environmentally friendly way, acquire it, go on the federal lands, do it in the right way, we'll get that extra piece of cash and bring manufacturing and jobs back to the United States or create them in the United States because of our energy.

In laymen's English, Donohue's constituents -- the Kochs, the Hunts, and other Texas oil barons -- see the answer to our economic woes as being pretty simple. Sell federal lands to them, let them frack the heck out of it (in an environmentally friendly way, of course -- cough), and there will be more jobs than the eye can see!

Speaking strictly for me, I'd prefer to leave my children and grandchildren with pristine, unpolluted, unmarred federal lands and find a different way to build the economy, but Donohue does reveal the center of the conflict between the Obama administration and the robber oil barons of the 21st century. Earlier in the interview, Donohue whined that the president was going to tackle climate change using his regulatory authority specifically with regard to the EPA and said the US Chamber was going to have to "work on that."

Oil oligarchs are struggling to remain relevant even as the rest of the world realizes oil dependency is a national security and economic danger we must mitigate, not celebrate. Donohue is simply the oligarchs' public relations mouthpiece.

Perhaps the Chamber minions in the House could pass a few more bills abolishing the EPA? That might work. Or not.

I trust that this year's billionaire boys' concerns will not be overlooked like last year's were. After all, income inequality is only a problem for as long as the minions cry out about it. Deficits and debt, on the other hand, are a real opportunity for wealth building at the expense of the peasants who were in the streets not that long before.

This is why I loathe Davos and all of the breathless celebrity reporting around it. The financial reporters practically scream like teenagers whenever a billionaire breathes, much less says anything substantive. Davos and the coverage surrounding it are meant to remind everyone that we serve at the pleasure of the oligarchs.

Transcript follows below the fold, courtesy of CNN:

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Just after the President released his gun safety proposals this morning, the NRA doubled down on yesterday's propaganda piece exploiting the Obama daughters. In this 4 1/2 minute video, Wayne LaPierre shakes his fist at the mysterious "elites" that the media represents. Via Media Matters:

The ad opens with a montage of criticisms in media of the NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre's December speech calling for armed guards in schools in a response to the massacre at a Newtown, CT, school earlier that month. A narrator then states, "The media speaks for elites. America speaks for itself."

The ad also highlights the number of armed guards at the school attended by President Obama's daughters to make the claim that the President is a hypocrite for stating that he is "skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools." This attack follows up on a similar one made by the NRA in a recently released ad. The release of the White House's gun violence prevention plan today calls for federal funds to be used on school safety programs, including hiring more school resource officers, in addition to a number of proposals for stronger gun laws.

LaPierre may be leading the charge, but there are some generals backing him up. Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips let his Birch Society roots show today with a post entitled "Waiting for Adolf" which I won't link to but I will quote:

We are waiting on Adolf.

America has shed the trappings and protections of a Constitutional Republic and is now a democracy.

Democracies eventually have the same end. The people discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. The greed of the people is like the greed of the politician. It has no limits and is unsustainable.

These wingnuts are about to find out they're spitting into the wind. Indeed, there is a majority of people who want tighter gun laws, and we're about to discover whether they'll fight for them. OFA members are idling on the sidelines, waiting for the call to action. I believe they will activate that behemoth, organize, and get this done. It will take that kind of engagement to keep this issue from being hijacked by the likes of the NRA.

Bonus stories:

TruthOut: The Second amendment was added to allow landowners to put down slave rebellions.

Washington Post: How NRA’s true believers converted a marksmanship group into a mighty gun lobby

Yeah, I know it's another ad, but this one really is creative and smart. Using the iPhone assistant Siri, the case is made for President Obama's re-election, by Mitt Romney himself.

I especially like how they merged Mitt's argument for Dubya's re-election with the chart of job creation from Barack Obama's first term.

In case you're curious, here's the visual of Dubya vs. Obama:

Given that chart combined with Mitt's words, I think we have an excellent case to make for why Mitt Romney is absolutely right to recommend that Barack Obama be re-elected.

Um, okaaaaay. This ad is now running in Ohio, thanks to the "Empower Citizens Network." Via TalkingPointsMemo:

Cable viewers in several markets across the state are being treated to ads by an obscure self-described “alternative conservative” super PAC called the Empower Citizens Network. One of the group’s ads accuses Obama and Democrats of imploding the economy by forcing mortgage companies to lend to “unqualified borrowers” while the Soviet national anthem plays. Another promises welfare recipients that “Republicans can save your money source” by reducing regulations on business.

And then there’s the ad which one viewer told TPM is airing in the Columbus area on cable. Our source caught it a couple of times on MSNBC. That ad is the Empower Citizens Network spot that tells African Americans it’s a “lie” that Democrats support them and cites the Emancipation Proclamation as evidence.

The Empower Citizens Network ad uses some old Republican rhetoric to try and earn African American support for the GOP. “Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act while Democrats opposed it,” the narrator says at one point in the Empower Citizens Network ad.

Many African American Republicans will say their party still hasn’t figured out how to expand its support among black voters. John Sununu, a prominent surrogate for Mitt Romney, recently posited the Colin Powell only endorsed Obama because he’s black. In Florida, a move by the Republican-led state government to eliminate early voting on the Sunday before Election Day was seen by African American churches as aimed squarely at them.

And they accuse Democrats of playing the race card.

Here's a protip for the GOP: Start respecting people of color first, and then you'll understand how to reach them to "expand your support."

I don't usually put up campaign ads, but this one is particularly effective not only as a reminder, but as a motivator.

Republicans are doing everything they possibly can to discourage voting. From making registration more difficult to "accidentally" printing the wrong election date on ballots mailed to Latinos to limiting early voting hours on the weekend before the election, they have decided that if they can't win it straight up, they'll put as many barriers in our way as possible.

537 votes. That's all that stood between Bush and Gore. It came down to 537 votes. That's too close. Way too close.

The past is the past. But the only way to overcome all of the roadblocks is to step up and cast a vote in overwhelming numbers. Even if you think they're jacking with voting machines or there's something hinky with Tagg Romney's ownership percentage in Hart Intercivic, it can only be overcome by voting in huge numbers. They can't jack everything no matter how hard they try, but it means getting out and voting.

So far, that's happening. The early voting is overwhelmingly going in favor of Democrats, particularly in swing states. OFA director Jeremy Bird sent out a memo earlier today with some early numbers:

Non-Midterm Voters: Across nine battleground states, Democrats have a 19.7 point advantage in ballots cast among non-midterm voters. More than half (51.5 percent) of non-midterm voters who have voted already are Democrats, while fewer than a third (just 31.8 percent) are Republicans.

For example, in North Carolina, 51.5 percent of those who have already voted are Democrats, compared with just 25.1 percent who are Republicans. That’s a major advantage. And among these non-midterm voters who have voted in North Carolina so far, 87 percent of them are youth (under 35), African-American, Latino or new registrants (registered after the 2008 election).

All Voters: Among all voters, Democrats have a 10.7 point advantage over Republicans. Just under half (49.6 percent) of voters who have cast ballots are Democrats, while just 38.9 percent are Republicans. In the only two states--Colorado and Florida--where Republicans lead right now in total ballots cast, Democrats are cutting into traditional Republican leads there; we’re doing better today than at this point in 2008. And once in-person early voting is included (it just started in Colorado on Monday and starts in Florida this weekend), Democrats will take the lead.

The numbers are there. My worst nightmare is having Hans Von Spakovsky out there challenging voters in the swing states to try and hand an election that shouldn't even be close over to Mitt Romney.

Everyone in our household voted by absentee ballot last week. We're going to be spending Election Day and the time leading up to it getting out the vote, phone banking and doing whatever else is necessary to make sure there are no Republican challenges to this election that land in the Supreme Court.

I hope you're doing the same.

This could possibly be the best riff he's done in the whole campaign. Speaking at a campaign rally in Virginia today specifically directed toward women, the president ran away with 'Romnesia', wrapping it all up with a cure: Obamacare.

Here's the transcript:

But now that we’re 18 days out from the election, Mr. “Severely Conservative” wants you to think he was “severely kidding” about everything he’s said over the last year. He told folks he was “the ideal candidate” for the Tea Party, now suddenly he’s saying, “what, who, me?” He’s forgetting what his own positions are, and he’s betting that you will too.

I mean he’s changing up so much – backtracking and sidestepping. We’ve gotta name this condition that he’s going through.. I think it’s called “Romnesia.” That’s what it’s called. I think that’s what he’s going through.

Now, I’m not a medical doctor but I do want to go over some of the symptoms with you because I want to make sure nobody else catches it.

If you say you’re for equal pay for equal work, but you keep refusing to say whether or not you’d sign a bill that protects equal pay for equal work – you might have Romnesia.

If you say women should have access to contraceptive care, but you support legislation that would let your employer deny you contraceptive care – you might have a case of Romnesia.

If you say you’ll protect a woman’s right to choose, but you stand up at a primary debate and said that you’d be “delighted” to sign a law outlawing that right to choose in all cases – man, you’ve definitely got Romnesia.

Now, this extends to other issues. If you say earlier in the year I’m going to give a tax cut to the top 1 percent and then in a debate you say, I don’t know anything about giving tax cuts to rich folks – you need to get a thermometer, take your temperature, because you’ve probably got Romnesia.

If you say that you’re a champion of the coal industry when while you were Governor you stood in front of a coal plant and said, this plant will kill you – that’s some Romnesia.

So – I think you’re beginning to be able to identify these symptoms. And if you come down with a case of Romnesia, and you can’t seem to remember the policies that are still on your website, or the promises you’ve made over the six years you’ve been running for President, here’s the good news: Obamacare covers pre-existing conditions.

We can fix you up. We’ve got a cure. We can make you well, Virginia. This is a curable disease.

Pitch-perfect.

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[h/t ThinkProgress]

Over the past few weeks we've seen a lot of employers telling their employees they need to vote for Mitt Romney if they expect to keep their jobs. The most recent stories come via Koch Industries, ASG Software, and Westgate Resorts.

It turns out they may have been listeners on this conversation, which took place on June 7, 2012. The NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) held a conference call with Mitt Romney and members. At the end of the call, Mitt concluded his remarks with this:

I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope — I hope you pass those along to your employees. Nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business, because I think that will figure into their election decision, their voting decision and of course doing that with your family and your kids as well.

He just squeaked through with that tossed off reference to agreeing with him or President Obama, but the implication was pretty clear, wasn't it?

Make your employees vote like their jobs depend on it.

Kind of sounds like the iconic threat: "We have ways of making you talk."

NFIB is not exactly a neutral player in the whole electoral landscape. You can find out more about them at NFIBexposed, but they're basically a US Chamber of Commerce for privately held companies, large and small. I'd give long odds that every listener on that call was a Romney campaign contributor.

Many thanks to In These Times for being patient enough to discover this. Everyone should share this with people so they understand how far the right is willing to go to intimidate people into electing Mitt Romney.

Right-wing bullies have been blowing up the Internet the past day or so with their blowhard-ish accusations that Obama campaign spokesperson Stephanie Cutter has somehow minimized the Libya attacks and deaths of four Americans by pointing to the obvious (and annoying) politicization that has taken place over the weeks since the attacks.

Here, for the record is exactly what Cutter said in her interview:

"Had we had any different information, we would have put it out. We would have told the American people what we knew.

And so, in terms of the politicization of this, you know, we are here at a debate and I hope we get to talk about the debate, but the entire reason this has become the political topic it is, is because of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. It's a big part of their stump speech, and it's reckless and irresponsible."

Why yes, it is reckless and irresponsible. Incredibly so, since the three-ring Darrell Issa circus has fallout we're likely only beginning to understand, thanks to their reckless display of classified information yesterday.

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