DOWNLOADS: (313)

PLAYS: (3889)

Embed

From this Saturday's Up With Chris Hayes, Chris' Story of the Week and the Republicans who have been living in their own alternative universe these days as they refuse to accept the reality that the poll numbers in the presidential race really are not looking good for Mitt Romney.

The Republican bubble trap:

If you follow politics, you probably noticed that polling of the presidential election has swung quite decidedly in the president's favor over the last few weeks. The Real Clear Politics polling average now has Obama up 4.1 points over Mitt Romney in national polls and Nate Silver's prediction model at his FiveThirtyEight blog put Barack Obama's odds of winning the election above 80% for the first time ever. Swing state polling out just this week seems to confirm the trend.

A new Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS poll of swing states of Ohio and Florida, show surprisingly strong leads for Obama. And the Gallup tracking poll, which has showed a near dead heat for almost the entirety of the campaign now shows Obama up 6 points. It's pretty hard to survey the polling data and not come to the conclusion that Barack Obama is beating Mitt Romney, that if the election were held today Barack Obama would win, and that Romney has a relatively steep, though certainly not insurmountable, uphill climb to victory. That is, of course, unless you operate in the alternate epistemic universe of right-wing media.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (392)

PLAYS: (2743)

Embed

From this Tuesday evening's coverage on Current TV of the Republican National Convention, The War Room host and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm reacts to Ohio Gov. John Kasich taking credit for his state's improving economy.

As Granholm and others pointed out, if Kasich were willing to be honest, he'd be thanking President Obama for saving the auto industry and his state's economy, rather than praising and supporting the guy for president, who famously said to let Detroit go bankrupt. If it were up to Willard, Kasich wouldn't have anything to be bragging about right now.

Par for the course for a convention whose entire theme is based on a lie and distortion and taking President Obama's "you didn't build that" remarks out of context.

DOWNLOADS: (136)

PLAYS: (244)

Embed

Vice President Joe Biden was out on the campaign trail this week in Ohio, and on the attack over Mitt Romney's record as a so-called "job creator" and a businessman who "knows how to create jobs" and get our economy moving again. Fox's Neil Cavuto brought on his former fellow Fox contributor turned Ohio Governor John Kasich to respond.

Kasich of course tried to downplay the credit the Obama administration was attempting to take for Ohio's economy improving and their unemployment rate falling below the national average, and instead credited himself for making Ohio a more business friendly state and making the same points we've been hearing from Republicans ad nauseum on what Paul Krugman has rightfully called "the confidence fairy." Forget the fact that what drives businesses to make investments and grow their companies are consumers and whether the general public has enough disposable income to afford their products. Kasich wants you to believe, like all Republicans, that fear of over-regulation, rather than a lack of customers is what's stifling our economy.

The "confidence" businesses actually need is going to be driven up by a strong middle class and consumers who can afford their products; which as we've seen over the last few decades is what Republicans are determined to destroy.

The Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern pointed out earlier this year exactly why Kasich does not deserve credit for turning Ohio's economy around: REMARKS: Chairman Redfern Says Kasich Should Credit Obama, Brown, Dems for Ohio’s Improving Economy in State of the State Address:

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (178)

PLAYS: (859)

Embed

Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich said on Tuesday that it was "time to pause" anti-union efforts after voters rejected his plan to strip public workers of most collective bargaining rights.

"You know, when you get beat, you have to admit it," the governor told reporters. "It's clear that the people of spoken and you know, my view is when people speak in a campaign like this, a referendum, you have to listen when you are a public servant. There isn't any question about that. .... It requires me to take a deep breath."

Over 63 percent of voters in Ohio rejected Issue 2, repealing Senate Bill 5, which would have prevented police officers, firefighters, teachers, and other state employees from collectively negotiating for better wages.

Kasich said he hadn't decided on whether he would try again to limit union rights.

"I don't think this is a time to make a lot of decisions," he explained. "When I say it is a time to pause, it is right now on this issue. And the people have spoken clearly. You don't ignore the public."

But the former Fox News guest host wouldn't go so far as to admit he had overreached.

"It's like asking an athlete, 'Should you have not taken this shot?'" he remarked. "Voters were saying, I think here, Joe -- they might have said it was too much, too soon. Maybe that was it. I don't really know."

UPDATE: (Publisher's notes) John Amato:

I was tweeting about Kasich's breathing comments last night and what came to mind was that he was not going to give up on the Koch/Ailes strategy of dismantling all forms of unions in every state even though it was a huge failure. He'll make believe he's becoming reasonable in some fashion and then will try to do what he can to stiff the working class and poor in his state in favor of the 1%ers that only care about acquiring more wealth for themselves.

DOWNLOADS: (84)

PLAYS: (271)

Embed

A day after refusing to comment on an Ohio bill that would limit the collective bargain rights of public employees, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Wednesday that he supports the measure "110 percent."

Romney was working at Ohio Republican Party phone bank Tuesday when he was asked about Issue 2, a bill that Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) hopes voters will ratify on Nov. 8.

"I am not speaking about the particular ballot issues," Romney said at the time. "Those are up to the people of Ohio. But I certainly support the efforts of the governor to reign in the scale of government. I am not terribly familiar with the two ballot initiatives. But I am certainly supportive of the Republican Party's efforts here."

Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign immediately attacked the former Massachusetts governor for "finger-in-the-wind politics."

At an event with Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) on Wednesday, Romney didn't miss a second opportunity to prove he was for curbing worker rights.

"I'm sorry if a created any confusion in that regard," he said. "I fully support Gov. Kasich's -- I think it's called Question 2 in Ohio. Fully support that."

"I don't even know what Question 1 is. If there is a Question 1, I don't know what that one is. So with regards to Question 2, which is the collective bargaining question, I am 110 percent behind Gov. Kasich in support of that question."

DOWNLOADS: (171)

PLAYS: (573)

Embed

Ohio's Gov. John Kasich isn't quite the most unpopular governor in the United States. He's number two right behind Florida's Gov. Rick Scott. So who better to sound off this week about how to get our country back on track in the Republicans's Weekly Address?

This is the same governor who, according to polling back in May, would lose a do-over election with his former opponent Ted Strickland by 26 points. And as TPM reported as well, he's another one of these Republican governors who for all of their bluster attacking federal spending, were also quietly accepting those dollars at the same time.

Now that Kasich's union busting law is going to be put up to a referendum this November, Kasich suddenly decided that he now wants to make a deal with the state's public employee unions. To their credit, it appears the unions have said, no thanks -- Kasich Opponents: Repeal Your Anti-Union Law — Then We’ll Talk.

And what are his "solutions" for getting our economy back on track? The same as we've seen from all of these Republicans. More tax cuts, deregulation, privatizing everything, and apparently what he didn't bother to mention during this weekly response, union busting.

Kasich also said Republicans should be willing to compromise with Democrats, but not compromise on their "principles." Which is generally Republican double-speak for we'll compromise after you give us everything we want, maybe. Or maybe you give us everything we want and we still obstruct for the sake of obstructing. Which is something they seem to be particularly good at now that we've got the scary Kenyan usurper in the White House that they'll never acknowledge had a right to be there in the first place.

Transcript via the LA Times below the fold.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (5526)

PLAYS: (5594)

Embed

As Rachel pointed out, former Fox News candidate and now Ohio Governor John Kasich may have picked the wrong fight in Ohio. He may not be getting as much attention nationwide for his union busting as Wisconsin's Governor Walker, but he's doing even more damage there and he's going after the police and firefighters as well with his union busting legislation.

Rachel and one of our resident Ohioans on teamcrooks pointed out today that when even the Cincinnati Enquirer is bashing you in op-eds, you've got some real problems.

A shameful performance on Senate Bill 5:

It is shameful that Ohio Republicans pushed the SB5 collective bargaining bill through the Senate on Wednesday using the sort of tactics that congressional Democrats were justly criticized for using during the health-care reform debate.

What's doubly shameful is that this process is tainting an overhaul of public employment practices that is eminently worthwhile and necessary - in fact, long overdue - but should be done in a more reasoned, collaborative manner. The process should produce at least a credible level of buy-in.

We call on Ohio House leaders to step back and see how they can improve the quality of the debate as they take up the measure.

Go read the rest but this is from a paper that heartily endorsed Kasich before the election.

DOWNLOADS: (3191)

PLAYS: (591)

Embed

In what Lawrence O'Donnell described as one of the sleaziest legislative moves he's ever seen, the Republicans in the Ohio Senate jammed through their union busting SB5, but only after removing two Republicans on two separate committees who were opposed to it in order to get it to the Senate floor.

With One-Vote Margin, Ohio State Senate Passes SB 5:

The Ohio State Senate just passed the controversial SB 5, aimed a limiting unionized state employees' ability to collectively bargain or go on strike.

In an indication of how divisive the legislation is in the Buckeye State, the final vote in the Senate was 17-16. The bill now moves to the state House, which like the Senate, is under Republican control.

Gov. John Kasich (R) has endorsed the measure and is expected to sign it when it reaches his desk.

Democrats united against the bill, and they needed seven Republican members to join with them to stop it. In the end they got six.

Pushing the bill through the Senate has been tough for supporters of the plan, with the Republican leader of the state Senate removing two Republicans opposed to the measure to get the bill to the Senate floor today.

Lawrence talked to the Progressive Change Campaign Committee's Adam Green about their campaign to fight back against what these governors are doing in Ohio and Wisconsin and across the country, busting unions and waging class warfare against the poor and what's left of the middle class. You can watch some of their new ads that are airing in Wisconsin or make a donation to help keep them on the air here.

DOWNLOADS: (2956)

PLAYS: (3122)

Embed

Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs sat down with Lawrence O'Donnell to discuss the coordinated efforts by Republican governors to help billionaires like the Koch brothers deal a final blow to unions and the working class in America. I guess if we can thank Scott Walker for anything, it's reigniting the labor movement in America and for being the reason we're seeing conversations like this one take place on television. They're long past due.

O’DONNELL: You hear in that phone call the governor saying, I’m talking to John Kasich every day. This is what we’ve been suggesting here, that it feels to us like this is a national Republican governors movement. This is not just one state trying to get control of its budget. It seems that phone call shows us that this is, the hope is that this governor will be able to spread something nationwide.

SACHS: Well this is absolutely coordinated. There’s no doubt about it and it’s not an accident that one Republican governor after another is trying to crush the unions and crush workers in general. And what’s astounding is we have the greatest inequality in income and wealth in the history of this country and you have the billionaires going out to absolutely do the final deed of crushing workers to the maximum extent. It’s amazing what’s going on.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (2872)

PLAYS: (1633)

Embed

Here's some hopeful news in Ohio. As Dave Dayden noted, with the protests spreading to other states with these union busting bills being pushed through, it's possible they're doing some good.

Wisconsin remains the main battleground for the broader assault on worker’s rights. But elsewhere in the Big Ten states and across the country, these battles have moved forward. In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich is pushing pretty much the exact same bill as Scott Walker in Wisconsin. Known as SB 5, the bill would strip collective bargaining rights from Ohio public employees. SB 5 is a piece of legislation, so Kasich isn’t trying to implement this under the cover of a budget bill. However, he has said that if he doesn’t get what he wants out of SB 5, he will put those items into the next budget bill. Alternatively, this could go to the ballot. So SB 5 won’t be the last showdown. The Governor, aping Scott Walker, claims this is a fiscal issue, but nobody can explain how much money SB 5 would save.

Senate Republicans may not have the votes to get SB 5 out of committee (unless they work out a deal.):

Yesterday, we wrote about the Columbus Dispatch’s story that indicated that there are seven Republican Senators on the fence on SB 7, enough that if they don’t support the bill could defeat it. Well, I failed to note another key aspect. If the GOP doesn’t get these members on board, they may not even be able to pass SB 5 out of committee.

The Republicans have an 8-4 majority on the Senate Insurance, Commerce, and Labor Committee. However, three of the Republicans on the Committee are Senators Bill Seitz, Bill Beagle, and Jim Hughes.

These just happen to be three of the seven Senators the Dispatch identified as saying that SB 5, as it currently stands, goes too far and they are on the fence over supporting.

So if the GOP cannot get one of these three on board (either by partisan arm twisting or amending the bill), the GOP doesn’t have the votes to approve the bill out of committee.

Ohio Governor Kasich appeared on CNN tonight and is still trying to claim that SB5 is not really about busting the unions. Uh huh. Sure it's not. As Robert Reich wrote yesterday, this is part of an organized strategy by the GOP to destroy what's left of the middle class.

Ohio governor says collective barganing bill not meant to kill unions:

Continue reading »