Obamacare Can't Legally Be Repealed! GOP Leaders Use "Repeal" As 2012 Campaign Fundraising Strategy

Could the Republicans really repeal Obamacare?

The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of key provisions in the Affordable Care Act, the health care law commonly known as Obamacare, on Thursday, but on Capitol Hill, Republicans are vowing to press on with plans to fully repeal the law.

Repealing the law won't happen before January 2013. It would be dependent on a triple Republican victory this November: Mitt Romney would need to defeat President Barack Obama, Republicans must hold their majority in the House, and they must also gain enough seats in the Senate so they have at least 50 of their own in the upper chamber.

What about the filibuster? Don't you need 60 votes to do anything in the Senate?

Not in this case. Because Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion ruled the individual mandate a "tax," a Republican-led Senate could repeal that provision--and others--using what is called "budget reconciliation," a procedural tactic that requires only a simple majority vote. The Republican vice president, in this hypothetical scenario, would break the tie. (Democrats used the same method in 2010 to pass the health care bill.)

Budget reconciliation is at least one option that Senate Republicans are considering.

"There are a lot of ways to protect the American people from this horrible law, and Republicans are looking at all of them," John Ashbrook, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, told Yahoo News when asked if the party's congressional leadership was open to repeal using that process.

In the meantime, House Republicans are scheduling their own vote to repeal the law on July 11, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced Thursday. The vote would be symbolic because it would never pass the Democrat-controlled Senate. Also, the same House a lready voted to repeal the law in January 2011, during the same Congress that is up for re-election in November.

Speaking outside the Senate floor Thursday, Senate Democratic leaders criticized Republicans for moving forward with another repeal vote after the Supreme Court ruled its key provisions constitutional.

"Now that all three branches of government have ratified the law, the time for quarreling is over," said New York Sen. Chuck Schumer. "The time for disputing its validity is over. Congress should now return to its full time focus: The issue of jobs and the economy in America."

"If you ask people what they want us to focus on," he added, "it's not rehashing health care."


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Sources: ABC News, CNN, McClatchy Newspapers, Google Maps

Mitt Romney Raises More Money Than Obama In May: $76.8 Million To Obama's $60 Million! (NO Jobs!)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Immediately after the Recession, from January 2009 to January 2011 if Democrats had focused on stopping widespread Employment Discrimination & passed a WPA type JOBS Program instead of wasting Money on Egg Head Think Tanks & Political Favors, many BLACK & Latino Obama Supporters would have more Money to Donate for Pres. Obama's re-election in 2012.

Instead as it stands Millions of BLACK & Latinos are now Jobless and BROKE!
Thus Mitt Romney's Supporters (Regular Donors) are able to Donate More to his Grassroots Campaign Coffers than Pres. Obama's Supporters. (Regular Donors)

Thanks for Nothing Congressional Democrats!






Mitt Romney raises more money in one month than Obama for first time in race for White House


Mitt Romney pulled in more money than President Obama in May, further shaking a White House race that is shaping up to be a nail-biter.

Romney and the Republicans hauled in $76.8 million last month, far more than the $60 million raised by Obama and the Democrats.

This is the first time that Romney has outraised the incumbent and it comes as national polls show the race tightening dramatically as the economy continues to sputter.

Both men’s May total significantly outpaced what they raised in April.

For Romney, it was the first month when - as the clear GOP nominee - he was able to jointly raise money with the Republican National Committee.

"Our strong fundraising is a sign that Americans are tired of President Obama’s broken promises and want a change of direction in the White House," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said.

Obama’s haul - a significant jump from the $43.6 million he and the Democrats raised last month - was in large part attributed in part to his support of same-sex marriage.

Obama announced the total over Twitter.

“The campaign raised more than $60 million across committees in May,” the President said. “Thanks to everyone who chipped in.”

Obama’s total including donations came from 572,000 people and 147,000 first-time donors - many of whom opened their wallets after the President became the first occupant of the White House to endorse same-sex marriage.

The total was also boosted by a record $15 million raised at a fundraiser at George Clooney’s Los Angeles home.

The average donation to the President’s re-election bid during May was $54.94, continuing the Obama campaign’s success of wooing small donors.

By the end of April, 43% of Obama’s donors gave $200 or less, according to a study by the Campaign Finance Institute, a Washington research group.

Meanwhile, only 10% of those who gave to Romney during that period made donations of less than $200, pointing to the Republican’s reliance on fat-cat donors.

However, Romney had more success with the small donors in May, as his campaign boasted that 93% of gifts received that month were less than $250.

Obama now has raised approximately $277 million so far this year while Romney has totaled about $175 million. However, Romney is also expected to wield a significant advantage in money raised by the parties’ respective Super PACs.

Both men have aggressively hit the fundraising circuit in recent weeks, stockpiling cash in advance of what will likely be the most expensive election in history.

Obama and Romney have each criss-crossed the country, venturing into friendly and enemy territory alike to raise money.

Romney just completed a two-day trek through Texas that was expected to rake in $15 million.

Meanwhile, Obama hit four fundraisers in California - including one with a gay group - Wednesday and has one more scheduled for Thursday morning before he departs for Las Vegas to give a speech on jobs.

The fundraising totals continues a difficult stretch for Obama, who has been left reeling by a series of disappointing economic news.


Sources: MSNBC, NY Daily News, Youtube

Bill Clinton Endorses Temporary Extension Of Bush Tax Cuts To Help Middle Class

View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.

Yes Bill Clinton recently told the Media that Pres. Obama & Congress should Temporarily Extend the Bush Tax Cuts in 2013.
Why?
Because ALL of the Bush Tax Cuts are Connected to the U.S. Tax Code for Middle Class and Low Income Citizens.
In other words if those Bush Tax Cuts are allowed to Expire Immediately, Middle Class & Low Income Voters would be Financially Ambushed!
Another reason for Congress to STOP Playing & Fix the U.S. Tax Code!


Bill Clinton: Bush Tax Cuts Should Be Extended Temporarily

Former president Bill Clinton caused additional headaches for the Obama campaign on Tuesday when he told CNBC that he wouldn't have a problem with Congress temporarily extending all the Bush tax cuts, which are due to expire at the end of the year.

Clinton went on to insist that President Obama should not sign off on legislation that would extend the top end tax cut rates permanently, a concession that Republicans have demanded. In that regard both he and Obama are on the same page: They both believe the high-end Bush tax cuts need to be de-coupled, extended for the middle and lower classes and ended for the upper earners. But Clinton's insistence that he would have "no problem" extending all of the tax cuts for some amount of time puts the Obama campaign in an awkward position. In this hyper-political climate, Republicans were quick to pounce on the daylight between the current and former Democratic president.

The White House is readying for a tax cut showdown this summer. House majority leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) indicated the House will vote on extending tax cuts before its August recess.

A Congressional Budget Office report released last month warned that the country may be thrown into a recession if the Bush tax cuts expired and scheduled spending cuts took effect as planned.

Clinton emphasized his opposition to the permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts, but conceded they might need to be temporarily renewed until the country gets out of what he called a recession.

"What I think we need to do is find some way to avoid the fiscal cliff, to avoid doing anything that would contract the economy now, and then deal with what's necessary in the long term debt-reduction plans as soon as they can, which presumably would be after the election," he said.

"I don't have any problem with extending all of it now, including the current spending levels." But the tax cuts are already set to be in place through the end of the year -- after the election -- and so Clinton's extension would take them further.

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, Michael Steel, quickly pounced on Clinton's comments. "The fact that former President Clinton supports stopping all of the tax hikes scheduled for January 1 is very, very big news," he said, according to Politico.

This is not the first comment by Clinton that could pose problems for the Obama campaign. During a CNN appearance last week, Clinton praised Romney's work at Bain as "sterling," and questioned the strategy of criticizing private equity. Clinton himself dabbled in private equity.

In a sign of the new media landscape, Mitt Romney's campaign launched a parody Bill Clinton twitter account, highlighting comments by the former president that seemed to undercut Obama.

A full transcript of Clinton's remarks on the Bush tax cuts are included below, via CNBC:

MARIA BARTIROMO: So what about this upcoming fiscal cliff? Because a lot of people are worried and the markets certainly have been reacting to the-- to the idea that these Bush tax cuts will expire at year end along with the spending programs that will expire. Should those programs and those tax cuts be extended?
PRES. BILL CLINTON: What I think they should do is find a way to keep the expansion going. And I think the-- as weak as it is here, you know, unemployment in the euro zone I think is 11%. And-- Germany's doing well but the-- and a lot of the smaller countries are doing extremely well, many of which are not in the euro.

But they're trying to figure out a way to promote growth. And what I think we need to do is to-- find some way to avoid the fiscal cliff, to avoid doing anything that would contract the economy now, and then deal with what's necessary in the long-term debt reduction plan as soon as they can, which presumably will be after the election.

MARIA BARTIROMO: So does that mean extending the tax cuts?

PRES. BILL CLINTON: Well, I think what it means is they will have extend-- they will probably have to put everything off until early next year. That's probably the best thing to do right now. But the Republicans don't want to do that unless he agrees to extend the tax cuts permanently, including for upper income people.

And I don't think the president should do that. That's going to-- that's what they're fighting about. I don't have any problem with extending all of it now, including the current spending level. They're still pretty low, the government spending levels. But I think they look high because there's a recession. So the taxes look lower than they really would be if we had two and a half, 3% growth. And the spending is higher than it would be if we had two and a half, 3% growth because there are so many people getting food stamps, so many people getting unemployment, so many people are Medicaid.

But-- the real issue is not whether they should be extended for another few months. The real issue is whether the price the Republican House will put on that extension is the permanent extension of the tax cuts, which I think is an error.

UPDATE (9:05 p.m. ET): Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna released a statement on the former president's CNBC appearance.

Two questions have been raised regarding President Clinton's interview on CNBC today. First, on extending the Bush tax cuts, as President Clinton has said many times before, he supported extending all of the cuts in 2010 as part of the budget agreement, but does not believe the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans should be extended again. In the interview, he simply said that he doubted that a long-term agreement on spending cuts and revenues would be reached until after the election.

Second, on the current condition of the economy, he said at the top of the interview that the main goal for those in Washington was "to keep the expansion going." Later, in the interview, he said government spending levels were higher and revenues were lower than they would normally be because there was a recession and we're still living with the aftermath of it.

It's obvious since we've had 4.3 million new private sector jobs in the last 27 months that we're not in a recession, even though we'd all like growth to be higher.


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Sources: AOL, CNBC, Huffington Post, NBC New York, Google Maps

Obama's Camp Slams Romney For Refusing To Repudiate Trump's Birther Remarks

Obama campaign: Why doesn't Romney push back against Trump ‘birther’ questions?


President Barack Obama's campaign is highlighting what they call Mitt Romney's "refusal" to condemn Donald Trump's continued highlighting of the "birther" conspiracy.

The release of a new video by the president's re-election team Tuesday morning comes a few hours after Romney appeared to downplay Trump's comments, and a few hours before Romney teams up with Trump at the business magnate and reality TV star's hotel in Las Vegas for a fundraiser for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Asked on his charter plane Monday night whether Trump's questioning of Obama's birthplace gave him pause, Romney said he was grateful for all his supporters.

"You know, I don't agree with all the people who support me and my guess is they don't all agree with everything I believe in," Romney said. "But I need to get 50.1% or more and I'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people."

Romney has said in the past that he firmly believes Obama was born in Hawaii, and is thus constitutionally eligible to be president.

Trump, however, is decidedly less sure. The "Apprentice" host has been a vocal proponent of the "birther" conspiracy going back several years. And early last year, as Trump flirted with his own bid for the Republican presidential nomination, he claimed he had "investigators" looking into Obama's records in Hawaii.

The president released the long-form version of his birth certificate in April 2011, showing he was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.

Soon after it was released, Trump announced he would not make a bid for the GOP nomination.

The new video by the Obama campaign contrasts Romney with Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the last Republican presidential nominee. The video starts by saying "As Republican nominee, John McCain stood up to the voices of extremism in his party."

Then McCain is seen in clips from the 2008 presidential campaign pushing back against supporters’ claims that Obama wasn't an American. In one of the clips, a woman speaking to McCain at a campaign event says, "I have read about him, he's an Arab.” McCain shakes his head and responds "No ma’am, no ma’am. He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with."

The video then asks, "Why won't Mitt Romney do the same" and proceeds to highlight clips of Trump over the past year questioning whether the president was born in the United States.

Trump will join Romney and former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich for a campaign fund-raiser in Las Vegas on Tuesday evening. Romney's campaign is also raffling a chance to have dinner with the celebrity businessman for supporters who donate $3 to the campaign.

"I want you: Dine with the Donald," a campaign flier proclaims, along with a drawing of Trump in the pose of Uncle Sam.

Trump once again raised questions about Obama's birthplace last week, including in an interview published Friday with The Daily Beast.

"Look, it's very simple," Trump said in the interview. "A book publisher came out three days ago and said that in his written synopsis of his book."

The interview continued, "He said he was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia. His mother never spent a day in the hospital."

Trump was referring to a literary agency that, in a promotional catalogue from the 1990s, listed Obama has having been born in Kenya. An employee of the agency recently acknowledged that it was her mistake.

But Trump isn't buying it.

"Now they're saying it was a mistake," he told the Daily Beast. "Just like his Kenyan grandmother said he was born in Kenya, and she pointed down the road to the hospital, and after people started screaming at her she said, 'Oh, I mean Hawaii.' Give me a break."


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Sources: CNN, TPM, Youtube, Google Maps

George Zimmerman's Website Windfall; Myspace Page Reveals Racist Disdain For Mexicans “DatNiggy"

George Zimmerman’s crude Myspace page from 2005 uncovered


While it includes photos of an ethically diverse group of friends, the murder defendant’s 2005 web presence includes disparaging remarks about Mexicans.


Just as George Zimmerman’s attorney pushes the envelope of accepted legal practices by launching a social media operation for his client, another site has popped up that belonged to the controversial former neighborhood watch volunteer who now faces a murder charge.

This one is a 7-year old Myspace page called “only to be king again” that makes disparaging comments about Mexicans. The Web page, which his attorney confirmed Tuesday is legitimate, makes reference to 2005 criminal cases and a brush in court with a woman who Zimmerman called his “ex-hoe.”

There are several photos of Zimmerman on the page, and in one of them he appears to be wearing the same orange polo shirt that he donned in his 2005 police mug shot. Zimmerman used the name “Joe G.” on the site, and posted a biography that mentions he grew up in Manassas, Va., had recently opened an insurance business and missed all his friends.

Last month, a Zimmerman Myspace page under the username “datniggytb” was taken down.

The Joe G page includes a missive written in street slang.

“I dont miss driving around scared to hit mexicans walkin on the side of the street, soft ass wanna be thugs messin with peoples cars when they aint around (what are you provin, that you can dent a car when no ones watchin) dont make you a man in my book,” the 2005 Myspace page said. “Workin 96 hours to get a decent pay check, gettin knifes pulled on you by every mexican you run into!”

Another line suggested his friends went to jail and did not rat him out. “They do a year and dont ever open thier [sic] mouth to get my ass pinched.”

The pictures posted on the page including several with an ethnically diverse group of friends. The blog section boasts about having two felonies knocked down to misdemeanors and describes a court battle with an ex-girlfriend. Zimmerman faced two felonies in 2005 for obstructing justice and battery on a law enforcement officer, but the cases were reduced to misdemeanor simple battery, and he was left with no criminal conviction on his record.

Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara, confirmed the page was his client’s, and that it was abandoned in 2005.

The site was the latest discovery in an ongoing social media battle in the Zimmerman case. The Feb. 26 shooting of Miami Gardens teen Trayvon Martin received its first groundswell of attention on social media platforms, which were later used to portray the victim in a negative light. Now the defense is embracing Twitter, Facebook and a blog to provide forums for discussion — and to raise money.

Trayvon Martin’s family took to the Web to raise funds and to gather petitions to demand criminal charges against Zimmerman. His killer’s lawyer uses the medium to raise funds, post articles and announcements, and dispel rumors.

“We are not surprised to discover that our decision is controversial,” O’Mara posted on his site, gzlegalcase.com. “Some have called it unethical, and some have called it brilliant; however, we believe much of the controversy is about the medium, not the message.”

Last week, O’Mara said he ordered his client to wipe his Internet presence clean. Zimmerman took down his website, a Twitter account and any other social media accounts. Any remaining, O’Mara said, were

But once the defense attorney realized how much money Zimmerman had raised on the Web, he quickly set up a more-polished website with a link to a professionally administered legal defense fund. O’Mara said he had agreed to take the case for free, but reconsidered once he learned he could be paid using web donations.

O’Mara hired Shawn Vincent of Orlando’s Digital Marketing Revolution to manage a Facebook page as well. Within hours of the page going up, hundreds of people had posted comments both for and against the defendant, and a few people with fake user names shared harsh opinions of Trayvon Martin’s family. One commenter on O’Mara’s Facebook page said Trayvon’s mother was “mooching” off white people’s money.

Within 24 hours, the site was changed so that users must submit comments for review before they are posted. Insults were deleted. About 1,800 people have “liked” the page so far.

Jayne Navarre, a South Florida consultant who devises social media strategies for lawyers, said O’Mara’s use of social media will “almost certainly” taint a jury pool and compromise Zimmerman’s shot at a fair trial. She said O’Mara also may be violating American Bar Association rules that prohibit a lawyer from helping third parties make prohibited extrajudicial comments.

While use of social media has risen exponentially in the legal field, “what we have not seen is a criminal-defense attorney host social media channels on behalf of their client,” Navarre said. “I would not be surprised to learn that members of the Bar are shocked and even disgusted.”

Under American Bar Association rules, a lawyer can speak publicly on a case as long as it does not prejudice a potential jury. The association is revamping its rules to address social media, she said.

Lawyers usually use social media to advertise, educate, network or recruit employees, she said. Some lawyers and judges have been sanctioned for inappropriate use of social media.

Until now, Navarre said, the most unusual case of a law firm using social media was in 2010, when the Massachusetts-based class action firm Sokolove Law Inc. launched the first known niche social networking site devoted to engaging potential and current class members in online discussions about the birth control pill YAZ.

But the site was considered advertising and was deemed in compliance with ABA rules, she said.

“The tactic certainly was cutting edge, and I don’t think the Bar saw any writing on the wall,” Navarre said. “I find in my social media consulting practice that many lawyers are still dragging their feet for various reasons . . . Others find it unprofessional, period.”


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Sources: Associated Press, CBS News, Gawker, Miami Herald, Youtube, Google Maps

Romney's Campaign Adviser "Etch-a-Sketch" Quotes Raises More Money For Mitt; Makes Democrat Strategists Look Desperate!

That Stupid "Etch-a-Sketch" quote is making Democrats look Stupid but its going to raise a Lot of Money for Mitt Romney from his Supporters.

So how is this helping Pres. Obama?

It Also Makes Democrat Strategists Look Desperate!

Do Democrats really think this "Etch-a-Sketch" Political Strategy is going to send more Voters to the polls for Pres. Obama?

See what I mean by "Reaching Down" instead of "Reaching Up"?


Pres. Obama's Re-election Campaign Advisers & Strategists Need To Remain Focused On Substantive Issues like the Economy, Jobs, Racial Profiling, Tax Reform, Entrepreneurship, Tech Start-Up Small Businesses For BLACKS & Latinos, Education, Housing, Energy, PERIOD!!!

Reach Up & Aim High For Obama Supporters, Don't Reach Down!

If Democrat Strategists Aim High For Obama Supporters, The Same Big Money Donors Pres. Obama Attracted In 2008 May Come Back In 2012.

I'm Just Saying.


If Only He Could Shake His Comment Away

There is, perhaps, no more enduring critique of Mitt Romney than the one about him having shaky principles that shift with the political winds.

So it may not have been particularly helpful when one of his top advisers on Wednesday suggested that Mr. Romney’s campaign views the Republican race as an Etch a Sketch toy that can be shaken up and redrawn from scratch.

“Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign,” Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior adviser to Mr. Romney, said on CNN. “Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch a Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.”

An Etch a Sketch? The toy where nothing is permanent? Where one picture makes way for another with a few shakes by a 2-year-old?

It took mere minutes for Mr. Romney’s rivals to — gleefully — seize on the potential metaphors.

“We’ve been saying it for months, and Mitt Romney has had a reputation for it for years: he’ll say or do anything to get elected – absolutely anything,” wrote Brad Woodhouse, the communications director for the Democratic National Committee, in an e-mail with the subject line: “An Etch a Sketch? Really??”

Mr. Woodhouse added: “Now his own top adviser has confirmed that Mitt Romney has absolutely no core and will in fact say anything to get elected. In fact – his positions are no more reliable than if they were written on an Etch a Sketch – which is exactly what Eric Fehrnstrom compared them to. Incredible.”

The dumping on Mr. Fehrnstrom was a bipartisan affair.

The subject line on the e-mail from Rick Santorum’s campaign was in all caps: “***SHOCKING VIDEO EMBEDDED*** LIKE AN ETCH A SKETCH … TEAM ROMNEY ADMITS THEIR CANDIDATE WILL CHANGE POSITIONS IN THE GENERAL ELECTION.”

Hogan Gidley, a spokesman for Mr. Santorum, added: “We all knew Mitt Romney didn’t have any core convictions, but we appreciate his staff going on national television to affirm that point for anyone who had any doubts.”

And moments later, Bill Burton, who runs a “super PAC” backing President Obama’s campaign, sent an e-mail titled “Etch a Sketch voters?

“While extraordinarily cynical,” Mr. Burton wrote, “this candid admission of Governor Romney’s general election strategy to mislead the American people does at least have the benefit of truth. There is no doubt Governor Romney is going to try to mask his right-wing, anti-middle class agenda in order to win the election.”

Asked whether he wanted to take the words back, Mr. Fehrnstrom e-mailed what apparently is what he wished had come out of his mouth in the first place.

“As we move from the primary to the general election, the campaign changes,” Mr. Fehrnstrom wrote. “It’s a different race, with different candidates, and the main issue now becomes President Obama’s failure to create jobs and get this economy moving.”

Despite that explanation, Mr. Fehrnstrom’s comment quickly became fodder in the Twitter universe.

Tim Carvell, who identifies himself as a “writer of comedy jokes for the TV box” living in New York, wrote, “Right now, I’m guessing the Romney adviser who compared his candidate to an Etch a Sketch is being turned upside down and shaken vigorously.”


Sources: CNN, NY Times, TPM

Obama Raises $45 Million In February But GOP Super PACs Have Deep Pockets

Obama raises $45 million in February for re-election effort


President Barack Obama collected $45 million for his re-election bid in February, accelerating his fundraising pace as his campaign frets over an oncoming spending blitz by Republican-leaning outside groups.

Obama’s monthly haul was nearly twice as much as the $23 million per month average he raised during the final three months of 2011 and more than the $29.1 million he raised in January. Yet the largesse still fell short of the $56 million he raised in February 2008, when he was seeking the Democratic nomination against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

With Republicans locked in an extended primary, Obama’s team has tried to build a large 50-state operation that will help it register new voters, bring back past supporters and boost turnout. Obama’s campaign had about $75 million in the bank through the end of January; totals for February were not immediately available.

Campaign officials have implored supporters to donate money and get involved, pointing to Republican-leaning super PACs expected to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat the president. Obama’s campaign said earlier this year that it would bless big-money super PACs supporting Democrats as a way of countering the Republican effort.

In an email to donors last week, campaign manager Jim Messina cited a poll showing Obama trailing Republican Mitt Romney and asked them to get involved.

“We’re looking at a race that will be tighter than you think. And the other side has groups ready to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to tear down President Obama,” Messina said.

Obama has consistently outraised his Republican opponents. Romney, who has led the Republican field in fundraising, brought in $6.5 million in January, about a quarter of what Obama raised that month.

But Obama’s totals in February lagged behind what candidate Obama raised four years ago, before he had the benefit of the entire Democratic Party apparatus behind him.

Kirsten Kukowski, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman, said Obama was “having a hard time convincing voters he deserves another term” following three years of “record debt, high unemployment, and soaring gas prices and healthcare costs.”

Obama’s campaign said nearly 350,000 people contributed in February and the average donation was about $59 for the entire election cycle. Nearly 98 percent of the donations were $250 or less. The money was spread among Obama’s campaign, the Democratic Party and two campaign funds.

Obama has boosted fundraising efforts in recent weeks, holding events last month in Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. Last week, Obama raised money in Chicago and Atlanta.

The fundraising reports were being filed ahead of a Tuesday campaign finance deadline for presidential campaigns.


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Sources: AP, MSNBC, Politico, Washington Post, Youtube, Google Maps

Komen Foundation: I Stand With Komen! Fighting Breast Cancer NOT Fund Abortions!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Is the Susan G. Komen Foundation backing down?

The Susan G. Komen Foundation has just released a new statement from CEO Nancy Brinker. The first line is a mea culpa: “We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives.”

But what does this mea culpa mean?

Brinker goes on to make clear that they will amend their guidelines so only “criminal and conclusive” investigations affect their funding decisions.

They will ensure that “politics has no place in our grant process,” and they will “continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.”

So they are, perhaps, backing down. Or perhaps not. Yesterday, the Komen Foundation said the investigation was not the cause of their reduced support for Planned Parenthood, and that the real issue was that Planned Parenthood did not directly provide mammograms. This statement doesn’t address that concern at all.

So it would appear to leave open the possibility that the foundation intends to reject Planned Parenthood’s future grant applications — albeit on less overtly political grounds.

I posed these questions to Leslie Aun, vice president for communications at the Komen Foundation. “I think our statement speaks for itself,” she replied. You can be the judge of that. The statement follows in full:

Statement from Susan G. Komen Board of Directors and Founder and CEO Nancy G. Brinker:

We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives.

The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen.

We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.

Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation.

We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political.

That is what is right and fair.

Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer.

Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process.

We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.

It is our hope and we believe it is time for everyone involved to pause, slow down and reflect on how grants can most effectively and directly be administered without controversies that hurt the cause of women.

We urge everyone who has participated in this conversation across the country over the last few days to help us move past this issue. We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics – anyone’s politics.

Starting this afternoon, we will have calls with our network and key supporters to refocus our attention on our mission and get back to doing our work.

We ask for the public’s understanding and patience as we gather our Komen affiliates from around the country to determine how to move forward in the best interests of the women and people we serve.

We extend our deepest thanks for the outpouring of support we have received from so many in the past few days and we sincerely hope that these changes will be welcomed by those who have expressed their concern.




Susan G. Komen drops funding for Planned Parenthood


The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation revealed Tuesday it was cutting funds to Planned Parenthood, sparking an outcry from abortion rights advocates blaming “political pressure” and praise from an anti-abortion group.

The major breast cancer research group cut funds to the prominent family planning organization after Planned Parenthood has come under increasing scrutiny from Congress over how it provides abortion services.

The Komen Foundation gave few details on the reasons behind the decision, attributing the announcement to "changes in priorities and policies" and the need to "most fully advance [its] mission."

"It is critical to underscore that the women we serve in communities remain our priority. We are working directly with Komen Affiliates to ensure there is no interruption or gaps in services for women who need breast health screening and services,” the group said in a statement.

The Komen Foundation did not respond to repeated requests for more information about the decision.

Nancy Brinker, the founder and CEO of the Komen Foundation, was a political appointee of the George W. Bush Administration, in which she served as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary and as Chief of Protocol. Susan G. Komen was Brinker's sister.

Planned Parenthood, meanwhile, was clearly disappointed with the foundation's decision.

"We are alarmed and saddened that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation appears to have succumbed to political pressure. Our greatest desire is for Komen to reconsider this policy and recommit to the partnership on which so many women count," Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, said in a statement.

Planned Parenthood said funding from the Komen Foundation has largely paid for breast exams at local centers. In the last five years, grants from the group have directly supported 170,000 screenings, comprising about 4% of the total exams performed at Planned Parenthood health centers nationwide, according to the group.

The family planning organization announced a recent "emergency fund" from a different group, the Amy and Lee Fikes' Foundation, that will go towards making up for lost funds from Komen. The gift totaled $250,000.

Planned Parenthood said Komen began notifying local affiliates recently that their breast cancer initiatives would not be eligible for new grants. In a statement, the group said the foundation's leadership did not respond to requests to meet with Planned Parenthood officials about the decision.

In September, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce began an investigation of Planned Parenthood over the organization's "compliance with federal restrictions on funding abortions."

In a letter sent to Planed Parenthood, the committee asked the group to provide information on how it segregates family planning from abortion services, as well as its policies on reporting cases of sexual abuse, rape and sex trafficking.

The committee, chaired by Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns, also asked for all internal audit reports from 1998 to 2010.

Funding for Planned Parenthood came under the spotlight in April, when a GOP push to strip $317 million in federal funding for the group failed in an eleventh hour budget deal to avoid a government shutdown.

Reacting to the news Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington pointed to the House investigation as the cause behind Komen's decision, saying in a statement she was "extremely disappointed that politics is once again coming between women and their health care needs."

Democratic Rep. Mike Honda of California also sharply criticized the moved and called on the Komen foundation to reconsider its decision.

"This is just the latest casualty in a misguided and harmful campaign started by House Republicans to demonize the life-saving health services delivered by Planned Parenthood health centers," Honda said in a statement.

But the decision was applauded by some in the anti-abortion community, which has long called for the dismantling of Planned Parenthood.

Tony Perkins, a major social conservative leader who heads the Family Research Council, quickly praised the Komen Foundation's decision Tuesday as “good news” for women seeking help with breast cancer, as well as for the “lives of many unborn babies.”

"Susan G. Komen can chose to stop subsidizing the abortion giant, surely Congress can redirect its resources to those helping women, not making a profit off the lives of unborn children," Perkins said in a statement.


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Sources: CNN, Susan G. Komen Foundation, L.A. Times, MSNBC, Washington Post, Wikipedia, Youtube, Google Maps

Pat McCrory Enters 2012 NC Gov's Race With $2 Million War Chest!

McCrory starts run for NC governor with $2 million on hand

Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, who will formally announce a run for governor later Tuesday, had more than $2 million in cash on hand at the end of last year, according to new campaign finance reports.

The report, filed Monday, shows the Pat McCrory Committee received more than $2.6 million in contributions, $1.5 million coming in just the last six months of 2011.

The same report shows McCrory's committee spent $470,000 during that six month period.

McCrory, who was Charlotte's Mayor for 14 years, was also the Republican nominee for governor in 2008, but lost to Bev Perdue.

Perdue's campaign had slightly more than $2 million on hand at the end of 2011, but had raised more than $4 million total.


Perdue announced last week that she will not seek re-election.

Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy North Carolina, says Perdue can spend that $2 million on other campaigns, or give it to charity, but she cannot spend it on anything personal.


McCrory says 2012 campaign message won't change


So far, two Democrats have declared their intent to run for governor.

Lt. Governor Walter Dalton had $590,298 on hand at the end of 2011.

State Rep. Bill Faison had $507,359 in campaign cash available at the end of last year.

Read Pat McCrory's full campaign finance report here.


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Sources: ABC News, WCNC, WRAL, Google Maps

RNC Tops DNC In Fundraising & Organizing: August 2011 (Decision 2012)

RNC Rakes In $8M in August, Eclipsing DNC’s Haul

The Republican National Committee raised $8.17 million last month, surpassing the Democratic National Committee’s $5.5 million and registering its best August ever for a nonelection year, according to RNC officials.

The RNC finished August, traditionally a slow fundraising month, with $9.3 million in cash on hand and $15.9 million in debt. The DNC’s August haul was reported Monday by Reuters, which attributed Democratic officials as suggesting that the committee’s low numbers were a result of President Barack Obama’s focus on reaching a deal with Republicans on the debt ceiling.

Republican officials dismissed those claims, crediting the RNC’s August total to surging support among conservative activists and major donors as well as Chairman Reince Priebus’ national finance strategy.

Republican officials said the $8.17 million raised came from a mixture of small and large donors, adding that the committee did not make any unusual push for contributions last month.

“For an August, this is tremendous,” one GOP official said.

The RNC last month spent $6.4 million, including paying off more than $1 million in debt, while adding $1.73 million to its banked cash. When Priebus took over as RNC chairman in mid-January, the RNC had more than $20 million in debt from the 2010 election cycle.

The DNC declined to reveal the fundraising numbers it will file with the Federal Election Commission later this month. But its fundraising to date in 2011 has been far superior to the RNC; even its cash on hand as of July 30, $20.1 million, dwarfed the $9.3 million in cash the RNC had accumulated as of Aug. 31.


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Sources: Fora TV, MSNBC, Roll Call, Youtube, Google Maps

Obama Will Win In 2012 Because Tea Party Destroyed GOP! (Decision 2012)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

President Obama Will Win In An Overwhelming Landslide in 2012 and Will Deserve the Victory

America is a one party state. The Democratic Party is the sole political party in the US now.

The Republican Party is no more. It is not a political party; as David Brooks noted "the Republican Party may no longer be a normal party."

It has become a clearing house for religious fanatics, Ayn Rand groupie weirdos and angry white racists driven literally mad by seeing a black man in the White House, a black man more articulate and intelligent -- not to mention annoyingly even tempered -- than they or their bizarre leaders are.

I was a Republican activist in the 1970s and 80s. My father was a founder of the religious right and I was his sidekick. What he and I did --sadly -- still resonates today.

For instance Michele Bachmann got into politics because of reading my father's work. I escaped -- fled -- in the early 1990s. But I do know the Republicans from the inside and in the past hung around with the likes of the Bush Sr., family, the Fords, Bill Buckley etc. And whatever you may think of those Republicans, they belonged to a normal -- if misguided -- political party.

No more. Roll over in your grave Jack Kemp! Call your office Bill Buckley!

As Hal Crowther writes:

The Republican Party's slapstick search for a leader would be heartwarming and sidesplitting, but for the tragic knowledge that one of these scrambling midgets will collect tens of millions of votes in the presidential election of 2012. Never have so many amounted to so little, talked so much rubbish, dreamed of an office so far above their abilities. Blood pressures rose among party elders when Donald Trump, marginally Republican and one of the greatest fools in the solar system, momentarily tossed his hairpiece into the ring and became the instant favorite.

The GOP dilemma -- a golden opportunity to rule but nothing to say and no one to say it -- is so desperate that my instinct is to help them sort it out. Could we make a start, at least, by dismissing candidates who called for President Obama's birth certificate or raised the specter of Sharia law in America, followed briskly off the stage by lunatics who dismiss global warming as a socialist plot?

That would leave plenty of unbalanced extremists still in the running, yet reduce the stench of sheer evil and madness. The "birther" and Sharia cults reek of cheesy talk-radio racism; climate-change denial is a stranger faith yet, a political assault on basic science that insults a ground squirrel's intelligence and casually threatens the survival of life on earth.


That is what, not whom, President Obama will run against in 2012. He will be running against the "party" that in the matter of the debt crisis is happy to take the whole county with them over the cliff of loony and contradictory Bible-based/Ayn Rand-inspired, ideology into economic chaos. None of which any former Republicans, let alone any actual Christians -- i.e., those who try to follow the teachings of Christ -- would recognize.

This folly will not be forgotten. Nor will the insanity of the Rick Perry prayer meeting sponsored by a list of homophobic fanatics.

No matter what the president has to do to resolve this manufactured debt limit crisis, he will do something effective. And he will -- once again -- succeed in confounding his insane far right/religious right critics, and also once again prove his left wing critics wrong.

President Obama towers over his political rivals, left and right.

While the country and many of its leaders seem to feed on hysteria, the president takes the long view, and consistently wins.

The "disappointed" left says president Obama sold out.

The racist-laced Medicaid-mugging, billionaire-codling right staggers under the weight of terminal "birther" mythology-to-Ayn Rand "economics" of fascist selfishness.

Meanwhile president Obama continues to bide his time and looks down the road to the post-2012 reality when his patience with an impatient country filled with some very silly people, his thoughtfulness in the context of a sound-bite-entertain-ourselves-to-death era of short attention spans and historical amnesia will be vindicated.

If you think that president Obama played the Republicans in the last lame duck congress like a violin just wait until after 2012. Just wait to see how he end runs the opposition both left and right, and scores big for the moderate middle in the debt crisis.

The disappointment on the left has apparently led some folks to concoct an alternate reality in which -- in a mirror image of the loony embittered far right, not to mention in a mirror image of people like Sarah Palin who have made a profitable career out of being professional Obama haters -- no matter what president Obama does they dismiss it.

In other words some on the left don't just disagree on tactics they act like jilted lovers (and/or opportunistic cynics trolling for the next book advance) and have turned their once too-ardent love into hate.

The president's critics left and right all had one thing in common: impatience laced with little-to-no sense of history.

Meanwhile back in the real world ...

• Health care reform passed

• Bin Laden is dead

• Gay rights in the military took a quantum leap

• The economy began to revive and will again after the President resolves the debt crisis one way or another

• The world loved an American president for the first time in half a century

• The war in Iraq drew down

• America foiled countess terror attacks

• We're drawing down in Afghanistan

And in post-Libya intervention President Obama has in a little noticed historic move -- changed America's arrogant unilateral habit of global intervention perfected by Bush II.

Mr. Kupchan (of the Council on Foreign Relations) says that something new about Obama regarding actual change is the way he acts in international interventions. "The governing mantra since World War II has been, 'America is out in front,' so it's quite striking how prominent the administration's focus is on letting others take the lead," he says. "It's really kind of revolutionary."

... And everything president Obama has done he did against the backdrop of a hate campaign against him -- from the right and the left -- the likes of which no American president has faced since Lincoln faced down the slave-owning states.

Make no mistake the Tea Party, the rise of shills-for-profit like Palin, Bachmann, Trump et al, the sale of bumper stickers calling for the president's death (Psalm 109) etc., etc., all add up to one thing: the white rube underclass is lashing out. (Jimmy Carter was correct; it's always about race in America.)

And in THIS context, with the just-say-no Republicans doing nothing but obstructing him our first black president has nevertheless:

Extended child tax credits and marriage-penalty fixes; killed bin Laden: increased minority access to capital; established a credit card bill of rights; expanded loan programs for small businesses; closed the "doughnut hole" in Medicare prescription drug plan, required insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions; required children to have health insurance coverage; expanded eligibility for Medicaid; increased the Veterans Administration budget to recruit and retain more mental health workers, fully fund the Veterans Administration, fully funded the Violence Against Women Act; directed military leaders to end war in Iraq; sought verifiable reductions in nuclear stockpiles; repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy; raised fuel economy standards and reversed restrictions on stem cell research...defended a woman's right to abortion...

While President Obama brilliantly cajoled 13 Republicans to join every Democratic senator to ratify the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia, adding (as the Times put it) "the capstone to what now shapes up to be a remarkably successful legislative agenda for President Obama's first two years..."

And while President Obama signed the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell into law and while President Obama orchestrated the push back in the Senate -- that then unanimously approved a bill to pay for the medical care of workers who cleaned up ground zero... the president also kept proving that his rabid critics on the right, who have been working so hard to undermine his presidency at every turn, are dead wrong. And then president Obama foiled the great Tea Party budget "victory" of April 2011.

We Americans are very lucky people. A sane and compassionate president is in charge.

Maybe when President Obama is able to once again pull one out of the fire for sanity's sake, and America's sake in the debt crisis, maybe some of his usual critics on the left will at least admit that he is a good president, maybe a great one -- and that 2012 looks good.

As for the "Republicans," there are none, just a rag-tag group of losers who have hooked their despicably low expectations to bronze-age biblical myths on the one hand and a cult of anti-middle class selfishness and union-busting, job-exporting, billionaire-worship on the other.

Sources: AP, Barack Obamadoctcom, CNN, Huffington Post, MSNBC, Youtube