The Obnoxious Tea Party Leaders Have Vanished from the Political Stage -- Palin, Beck, DeMint, Paul, Bachmann... Poof! | Alternet

The Obnoxious Tea Party Leaders Have Vanished from the Political Stage -- Palin, Beck, DeMint, Paul, Bachmann... Poof! | Alternet
"Who are the names that come to mind when you think about leaders of the Tea Party movement? Maybe Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Jim DeMint, Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann? Those were the most popular leaders listed by self-identified Tea Party activists in  a 2010 Washington Post poll, at the height of the movement. You could add to that list a handful of other congressmen, especially outspoken Reps. Steve King, Allen West and Joe Walsh, among others.

And then you’d realize that every single one of them either lost their job or abandoned being a voice of the movement."

Alaska Lawmaker to GOP Colleagues: 'This is Secessionist Talk'

Alaska Lawmaker to GOP Colleagues: 'This is Secessionist Talk'
"Alaska's GOP-controlled House just passed a bill which, if passed by the Senate and signed by the governor, would make it illegal for federal law enforcement officers to enforce federal gun laws."

Mississippi Republicans Would Prohibit Towns From Establishing A Minimum Wage

Mississippi Republicans Would Prohibit Towns From Establishing A Minimum Wage: As President Obama pushes to increase the national minimum wage, Mississippi Republicans are digging in their heels to prevent any similar efforts in the Hospitality State. A bill working its way through the Republican-controlled Mississippi legislature aims to ensure that no local government enacts a mandatory minimum wage or other worker protections. Mississippi has no [...]/p

Everybody Listen Up! The Deficit Is Actually Shrinking, Despite the Beltway Propaganda | Alternet

Everybody Listen Up! The Deficit Is Actually Shrinking, Despite the Beltway Propaganda | Alternet
"There is no deficit problem. The deficit is down 50 percent as a share of gross domestic product just since President Bush’s fiscal year 2009 deficit and is falling at the fastest rate since the end of World War II. Yet the Washington debate is about how and where to cut us back into recession. Why?

Congress should just repeal the sequester – we don’t need it. We have 10 years to fix the long-term deficit situation. We should not be stampeded by deficit-scare propaganda and instead take the time to carefully consider the right approach. That way we won’t make the mistakes that Europe is making."

Threats to Dem Rep: 'I Hope Someone Giffords Your Ass With A Gun'

Threats to Dem Rep: 'I Hope Someone Giffords Your Ass With A Gun'
"Franklin Sain, a 42-year-old Colorado Springs man, was arrested last Friday for threatening Colorado lawmaker Rep. Rhonda Fields (D-Aurora) over gun control legislation that she is currently sponsoring and that recently passed in the state House.

Franklin Sain is accused of threatening Fields and her daughter using racial and sexual slurs."

More Evidence That David Barton's 'History' Cannot Be Trusted | Right Wing Watch

More Evidence That David Barton's 'History' Cannot Be Trusted | Right Wing Watch
"Just about everything in Barton's explanation of this court decision is fundamentally misleading and demonstrably false ... and yet it will continue to make no difference to those on the Right who regularly cite him as an expert historian."

Glenn Beck Wants To Make Cable Subscribers Pay For His Conspiracy Theory Channel

Glenn Beck Wants To Make Cable Subscribers Pay For His Conspiracy Theory Channel: Since Glenn Beck left Fox News in 2011 and founded his own web channel, TheBlaze, the former right-wing sensation has been less prevalent in the mainstream political conversation. Still, Beck has cultivated a substantial audience for his subscription-only programming, and is now using that following to pressure cable networks into carrying his channel. Beck started [...]/p

What's It Like to Wake Up From a Tea Party Binge? Just Ask Florida!

Right-Wing Smear Machine Kicks Into Overdrive

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Stephen Colbert Takes Apart Breitbart for 'Friends of Hamas' Debacle

Stephen Colbert Takes Apart Breitbart for 'Friends of Hamas' Debacle
"Stephen Colbert took apart Breitbrat Ben Shapiro, the right wing echo-chamber that fell for his hit piece on Chuck Hagel and the Republicans who are now asking President Obama to withdraw Hagel's nomination"

"Friends of Hamas" Rumor

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Ted Cruz, Radical McCarthy Conservative, Accuses Harvard Law Of Harboring Communists On Faculty

Ted Cruz, Radical McCarthy Conservative, Accuses Harvard Law Of Harboring Communists On Faculty
"A Reagan Conservative refutes everything he says. Hah! But that's inconsequential. To the extreme right, reality means nothing. The fact that Cruz is willing to act like McCarthy in a Senate hearing is music to their ears. And he's framing every incendiary thing he says as an attack on liberals. The Tea Party revels in that kind of behavior."

Texas Secessionist Kilgore: 'Hitler and Lincoln Are Very Similar'

Texas Secessionist Kilgore: 'Hitler and Lincoln Are Very Similar'
"For anyone who didn't think Gov. Rick Perry was a big enough wingnut to suit the state of Texas, there's an even nuttier one waiting to take his place -- secessionist Larry Kilgore."

Montana Bill Would Give Corporations The Right To Vote

Montana Bill Would Give Corporations The Right To Vote: A bill introduced by Montana state Rep. Steve Lavin would give corporations the right to vote in municipal elections: Provision for vote by corporate property owner. (1) Subject to subsection (2), if a firm, partnership, company, or corporation owns real property within the municipality, the president, vice president, secretary, or other designee of the entity [...]/p

NY Man With Liberal 'Hit List,' Tank-Piercing Ammo Arrested

NY Man With Liberal 'Hit List,' Tank-Piercing Ammo Arrested
"Police in Clarkstown, New York have confiscated a cache of high-powered weapons and body armor from a man who was arrested for posting death threats against many Democratic politicians and every liberal supporter of President Barack Obama."

Birthers of the World Unite: Larry Klayman to Represent Group Defending Joe Arpaio | Right Wing Watch

Birthers of the World Unite: Larry Klayman to Represent Group Defending Joe Arpaio | Right Wing Watch
"Well this comes as no surprise. Larry Klayman, the birther attorney who is now calling for an armed revolution against President Obama, is representing a new group of Tea Party members defending Sheriff Joe Arpaio from a potential recall election. "

Scott Walker Proposes Budget That Cuts Taxes While Reducing Funding For Public Schools

Scott Walker Proposes Budget That Cuts Taxes While Reducing Funding For Public Schools: Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) is proposing a budget that would fund a variety of right-wing priorities by slashing support for public services and local communities, according to an outline of the plan given in Walker’s “State of the State” address Wednesday night. Walker, who had already cut taxes significantly in his first term, proposed an [...]/p

Congressman Says Americans Need Guns To Protect The Nation From Sharia Law

Congressman Says Americans Need Guns To Protect The Nation From Sharia Law: Tea Party Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) told a conservative radio show on Thursday that the GOP must oppose gun regulations to protect the country from the threat of “Sharia Law.” Appearing on The Voice of Freedom, Gohmert said he “hoped and prayed” that Congress rejects gun safety legislation, arguing that Americans may need to use [...]/p

Arizona Republicans Stand Up to Fight Evil UN Enviro Plot

Arizona Republicans Stand Up to Fight Evil UN Enviro Plot
"Oooh, look out, people. The United Nations is coming to destroy your freedoms and take away your way of life.

Fortunately, we have the far-right Republicans of the Arizona Legislature out there on the front lines protecting us.

The same woman -- Republican Sen. Judy Burges, R-Hateful Old People (aka Sun City West) -- who sponsored Arizona's notorious birther law is back this session with SB 1403, a bill that would prevent Arizona from participating in any kind of legislation that would support the eeeeevil UN "Agenda 21" plan to destroy America through environmental laws."

Fischer: 'President Obama Is Our Enemy' | Right Wing Watch

Fischer: 'President Obama Is Our Enemy' | Right Wing Watch
"Ladies and gentlemen," Fischer declared, "we should be under no illusions here; President Obama is not our friend, President Obama is our enemy"

Why GOP and Breitbart Smear Machine Fell for 'Friends of Hamas' Joke | Alternet

Why GOP and Breitbart Smear Machine Fell for 'Friends of Hamas' Joke | Alternet
"It was against that backdrop of routine right-wing dysfunction that the Times published its lengthy article. Author Robert Draper argued -- and many Republican operatives agreed -- that the GOP's perennial online failures have made it almost impossible for the party to communicate effectively with younger voters; voters who have developed a deeply hostile perception of the GOP brand."

Republican Party 2013: D.O.A.? | Alternet

Republican Party 2013: D.O.A.? | Alternet
"There's the oft-mentioned electoral data—those vast demographic changes that are seeing the GOP's ability to win grossly compromised. Mitt Romney's strongest age demographic was seniors, his weakest was the youngest voters. The circle of life guarantees that Democrats will come out of that divide looking quite good. And of course, not entirely unrelated, is the rise of the Latino and Asian vote, as those young groups begin entering the voting age population in force.  Remember, every month, 67,000 Latinos turn 18, while 100,000 (predominantly white and conservative) seniors die. Do the math."

Former Republican: How the GOP Turned Into a Racket Ripping Off Vulnerable Americans | Alternet

Former Republican: How the GOP Turned Into a Racket Ripping Off Vulnerable Americans | Alternet
"As the GOP narrowed and hardened its dogma, the affluent, educated suburbs drifted away from the Church of Reagan, leaving the organization to an increasingly less educated, southern, rural, and downscale white voting base (needless to say, the executive wing of the party is decidedly not downscale in its personal finances; they know, just as surely as L. Ron Hubbard knew, that there is gold to be mined from the suckers). The slide among both voters and elected officials has been frighteningly steep since 2008. Compared to thecurrent crop of congressional GOP freshmen and sophomores, even George W. Bush looks like Henry Cabot Lodge. The party of Abraham Lincoln (a genuine architect of popular enlightenment through his establishment of land grant colleges) has degenerated into Scientology for rednecks who think embryology, evolutionary biology, and geology are lies from the pit of hell."

The Wrecking Crew Is Winning | Common Dreams

The Wrecking Crew Is Winning | Common Dreams
"Once more, the Republican Congress is holding the economy hostage as “leverage” to extort deep and unpopular cuts in the core pillars of family security – Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  Not surprisingly, Americans disapprove in large numbers, with Congress in general and Republicans in particular setting new records in popular disregard.
But make no mistake; the wrecking crew is winning by defining what the national debate is about.  Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell calls the deficit the “transcendent issue of our time,” as if balancing the budget would fix our economy.

No, the fundamental issue of our time is an economy that works only for the few, plagued by mass unemployment, declining wages and increasing insecurity.  But despite the best efforts of the president in his State of the Union address, the fiscal hostage-taking by McConnell and the Tea Party Congress have made deficits the only subject in town."

The New Know Nothing Party and the High Price of Willful Ignorance | Common Dreams

The New Know Nothing Party and the High Price of Willful Ignorance | Common Dreams
"Here in the 21^st Century the Republicans have become the new Know Nothing Party.  Just as the original Know Nothings employed fear, bigotry, ignorance and hate to motivate its base, so too does the Republican Party."

PERRspectives: Happy President's Day Abe, from the Party of Lincoln

PERRspectives: Happy President's Day Abe, from the Party of Lincoln
"But within the Party of Lincoln are many who are not so enamored with the GOP's namesake. One hundred and forty eight years after the end of the Civil War, the whitewashing of slavery, the resurrection of the "Lost Cause," the championing of states' rights and the casual endorsement of nullification and secession are among the modern Republican Party's tributes to Abraham Lincoln."

Tea Party Group "Deeply Embarrassed" by Failure to Plan Pro-Gun Rallies | Alternet

Tea Party Group "Deeply Embarrassed" by Failure to Plan Pro-Gun Rallies | Alternet
"In politics as in all else, money, money, money makes the world go round. If tea party outfits can't even adequately fund a few gun rallies, you know they're on the ropes."

The Grand Old Jurassic Party

The Grand Old Jurassic Party
"With its focus on ideological purity, the Republican species is on the brink of extinction."

Revealed - The Tea Party Paid for by Phillip Morris

Study: Kochs Tried To Start 'Grassroots' Tea Party In 2002

Study: Kochs Tried To Start 'Grassroots' Tea Party In 2002
"The common public understanding of the origins of the Tea Party is that it is a popular grassroots uprising that began with anti-tax protests in 2009.However, the Quarterback study reveals that in 2002, the Kochs and tobacco-backed CSE designed and made public the first Tea Party Movement website under the web address www.usteaparty.com."

Teabagger Congressman Invites Ted Nugent To SOTU Speech

Teabagger Congressman Invites Ted Nugent To SOTU Speech
"So teabagging Rep. Steve Stockmen, who threatened the president with impeachment, has invited Ted Nugent (the draft-dodging blowhard who's threatened to kill Obama) as his Very Special Guest at tonight's State of the Union address. He will offer comments for the media after the speech, and the media will of course oblige."

Conservative Pressure To Stop Violence Against Women Act

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Tea Party Brings Circus Back To State Of The Union

Meet the Texas GOPer Who's Bringing Ted Nugent to Obama's SOTU | Alternet

Meet the Texas GOPer Who's Bringing Ted Nugent to Obama's SOTU | Alternet
"Texas Republican Steve Stockman, once drummed from the party for being nuts, now the future of the party again."

Rand Paul To Deliver Tea Party SOTU Response, Make Fringe Happy

Rand Paul To Deliver Tea Party SOTU Response, Make Fringe Happy
"Whichever it is, it highlights a division in the party simply by virtue of the desire to put him out there as the spokesman for the tainted Tea Party brand. I'm sure Paul's pals at Stormfront.org will cheer him on, at least."

The GOP Plan to Flush Your State’s Economy Down the Toilet | Alternet

The GOP Plan to Flush Your State’s Economy Down the Toilet | Alternet
"The GOP has plans for a comeback. But it may cost you a lot. The idea is to capitalize on recent Republican state takeovers to conduct an austerity experiment known as the new “red-state model” and prove that faulty policies can be turned into gold.

There will be smoke. There will be mirrors. And there will be a lot of ordinary people suffering needlessly in the wake of this ideological train wreck."

How Organizations with Ties to Hate Groups Are Trying to Influence the Immigration Debate

How Organizations with Ties to Hate Groups Are Trying to Influence the Immigration Debate
"The U.S. House of Representatives held its first hearings for the current session on immigration reform Tuesday. Many immigration groups also submitted official testimony for the record. One name, in particular, jumped out as questionable, at best, in terms of being an expert witness on the topic of immigration—Jessica Vaughan, who submitted a written statement. Vaughan is the director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), an organization that portrays itself as an "independent, non-partisan, non-profit, research organization" that advocates a "low-immigration, pro-immigrant" public policy. In reality, CIS is connected to a shadowy network of anti-immigrant funders and activists who participate in or are associated with movements for white nationalism."

Bachmann Keeps Seat On Intelligence Committee Despite Discredited Anti-Muslim Witch Hunt

Bachmann Keeps Seat On Intelligence Committee Despite Discredited Anti-Muslim Witch Hunt: Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) will remain a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence during the 113th Congress — despite leading a widely discredited anti-Muslim witch hunt against government personnel last year. According to the committee list released Friday, Bachmann will stay on the powerful committee despite calls from People for the American [...]/p

Hating Karl Rove: Not Just For Liberals Anymore | Alternet

Hating Karl Rove: Not Just For Liberals Anymore | Alternet
"With his new Conservative Victory Project, Rove seeks to knock off Tea Party candidates in GOP primaries. Tea Party leaders are crying treason."

Let's Face It, Ayn Rand's Gospel of Selfishness and Billionaire Empowerment Is the Dominant Ideology | Alternet

Let's Face It, Ayn Rand's Gospel of Selfishness and Billionaire Empowerment Is the Dominant Ideology | Alternet
"Between stupidity like this, and the re-birth of Ayn Rand through corporate-funded think tanks and Hollywood movies, the Billionaire Class wants to make sure the next generation buys into a toxic ideology that’s quite literally destroying the world as we know it."

PERRspectives: For Republicans, Everything is the Holocaust

PERRspectives: For Republicans, Everything is the Holocaust
"Republicans in 2012 still lost among Jewish voters by over a 2-1 margin. The reasons for the GOP's consistently dismal performance are no mystery. Survey data show that Jewish Americans overwhelmingly rejectthe Republicans' reactionary social policies and mockery of education and science. Worse still, many of the right's hardline supporters of Israel see God's chosen people as biblical cannon fodder needed to fulfill End Times prophecy. And then, as Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) showed this week, Republicans routinely compare Democratic positions on guns, education, health, taxes, the debt--and almost everything else--to the Holocaust."

Virginia Is For Wackos! Now They Want To Create Their Own Currency

Virginia Is For Wackos! Now They Want To Create Their Own Currency
"Stories like this one aren't going to help the Republicans much with their so-called "rebranding' effort"

12 Months of Misinformation: Explaining Fox News’ ‘Record Low’ Credibility | Alternet

12 Months of Misinformation: Explaining Fox News’ ‘Record Low’ Credibility | Alternet
"After another year of airing misinformation and embarrassing gaffes, it’s no surprise that Fox News continues to lose Americans’ trust"

Five Reasons Why Fewer People Trust Fox News Than Ever Before

Five Reasons Why Fewer People Trust Fox News Than Ever Before: A poll released Wednesday by Public Policy Polling shows that fewer people than ever trust Fox News as a source for accurate news and reporting. Just 41 percent expressed trust in the network — down from 49 four years ago — while 46 percent said they distrust Fox. There’s an obvious reason why: Fox misrepresents [...]/p

Karl Rove Pokes Tea Party Hornets' Nest

Karl Rove Pokes Tea Party Hornets' Nest
"Karl Rove blasted some of the "grassroots" Tea Party groups who have declared war on his newest effort to repackage the conservative crap sandwich in a prettier package that "can win elections." This is the purpose of Rove's new group, he claims, though Hannity contended he was really protecting incumbents from being primaried by more conservative candidates."

Republican Congresswoman Likens Regulations Of For-Profit Colleges To The Holocaust

Republican Congresswoman Likens Regulations Of For-Profit Colleges To The Holocaust: Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) compared efforts to regulate the for-profit college industry to the Holocaust during a speech Tuesday. Speaking at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, Foxx invoked a famous Holocaust maxim in order to defend for-profit colleges against increased scrutiny. “They came for the for-profits, and I didn’t speak up,” the [...]/p

GOP Tries To Hide Extremist Base With A Rebranding

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8 Reasons Why Cantor’s Rebranded GOP Looks Just Like The Old GOP

8 Reasons Why Cantor’s Rebranded GOP Looks Just Like The Old GOP: On Tuesday afternoon, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) delivered a speech that sought to “rebrand” the GOP as a party that can advance legislation that would improve the lives of the “most vulnerable” Americans. “Our solutions will be based on the conservative principles of self reliance, faith in the individual, trust in the family, [...]/p

Race-Baiting For Profit: Check Out Tweets By Former Head of SC GOP

Race-Baiting For Profit: Check Out Tweets By Former Head of SC GOP
"No one will be surprised that Todd Kincannon, former Southern Carolina Republican Party chairman is tweeting racist nonsense. It's just that this racist nonsense is, even by conservative standards, pretty blatant and ugly."

When Truth Tried to Stop War | Common Dreams

When Truth Tried to Stop War | Common Dreams
"Ten years ago, Katharine Gun, then a 28-year-old British intelligence officer, saw an e-mailed memo from the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) that confirmed for her in black and white the already widespread suspicion that the U.S. and U.K. were about to launch war against Iraq on false pretenses."