The Hollywood Liberal

Late Late Night FDL: Mr. Bassman
The Electric Mayhem featuring Scooter and Sgt. Floyd Pepper — Mr. Bassman, from The Muppet Show.

The Electric Mayhem featuring Scooter and Sgt. Floyd Pepper — Mr. Bassman, from The Muppet Show.

Grab your popcorn, put your feet up on the seatback in front of ya, and no spitballs aimed at the ushers please. This is Late Late Night FireDogLake, where off topic is the topic … so dive in. What’s on your mind?

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Are the Democrats Losing the Young?
It turns out that maybe being young and liberal isn’t necessarily in our blood after all. Despite historical trends that peg young people as Democrats, a new Pew Research survey suggests that recent economic woes have led fewer 18- to 29-year-olds to identify themselves as Democrats. —JCL The New York Times: The college vote is up for grabs this year — to an extent that would have seemed unlikely two years ago, when a generation of young people seemed to swoon over Barack Obama. Though many students are liberals on social issues, the economic reality of a weak job market has taken a toll on their loyalties: far fewer 18- to 29-year-olds now identify themselves as Democrats compared with 2008. “Is the recession, which is hitting young people very hard, doing lasting or permanent damage to what looked like a good Democratic advantage with this age group?” asked Scott Keeter, the director of survey research at the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan group. “The jury is still out.” Read more

It turns out that maybe being young and liberal isn’t necessarily in our blood after all. Despite historical trends that peg young people as Democrats, a new Pew Research survey suggests that recent economic woes have led fewer 18- to 29-year-olds to identify themselves as Democrats. —JCL

The New York Times:

The college vote is up for grabs this year — to an extent that would have seemed unlikely two years ago, when a generation of young people seemed to swoon over Barack Obama.

Though many students are liberals on social issues, the economic reality of a weak job market has taken a toll on their loyalties: far fewer 18- to 29-year-olds now identify themselves as Democrats compared with 2008.

“Is the recession, which is hitting young people very hard, doing lasting or permanent damage to what looked like a good Democratic advantage with this age group?” asked Scott Keeter, the director of survey research at the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan group. “The jury is still out.”

Read more

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Fox News bullies organized labor in run-up to Labor Day

Fox News figures have attacked labor unions in the days leading up to Labor Day, a national holiday originally created to honor the victories of the labor movement and the achievements of American workers.

Fox News figures assail organized labor

Beck: “I think the unions are like Biff,” the bully from Back to the Future. During the September 2 edition of his Fox News show, Glenn Beck said, “You know what I think of some of the unions? I actually think of Back to the Future. I think the unions are like Biff.” Beck showed a clip featuring Biff Tannen, the bully in the film, and added, “But in the end, once you really realize who they are and you’re not afraid anymore, it always turns out exactly the same way for the bully every time.” Beck then showed a clip of Biff working for the man he originally bullied.

Malkin accused unions of embezzlement, violence, and corruption. During the September 2 edition of Fox News’ America Live, Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin accused labor leaders of “embezzlement,” “violence,” and “corruption.”

Varney: There will be “[t]wo more union outrage stories to bring to you in our next half-hour.” During the September 2 edition of Fox Business Network’s Varney & Co., guest Joseph Caruso criticized a Securities and Exchange Commission rule that would allow more shareholders of public companies to use proxy votes to nominate board members. Caruso claimed that unions would use the rule to “wreak havoc” by nominating labor-friendly board members. In response, Fox Business’ Charles Payne suggested, “So, this will be used more as a tool of intimidation than anything else.” In a subsequent tease, Varney said, “Two more union outrage stories to bring to you in our next half-hour.”

Cavuto likened unions to Hurricane Earl on a “collision course on our towns.” During the September 2 edition of Fox News’ Your World, host Neil Cavuto compared unions to Hurricane Earl, saying, “The monster and the mess. Your World on top of Earl’s collision course with our coast and what could be unions’ collision course with our towns.” Cavuto added: “And get ready for Earl’s wallop and, to hear some state and local governments tell it, unions’ direct hit on their wallet.”

Carlson: How much of the cost of a Chevy Volt is “because you have to pay the unions so much money?” During a discussion of the Chevy Volt on the September 2 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Gretchen Carlson asked, “How much of that money … is because you have to pay the unions so much money?”

Beck: Labor hero is “indoctrinating children.” During the September 1 edition of his Fox News show, Beck accused Dolores Huerta, an 80-year-old labor activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers with César Chávez, of “indoctrinating our children” because she spoke at a high school. Beck also criticized the Labor Department for spending money on what he called a “catchy tune” that included Labor Secretary Hilda Solis saying, “You work hard, and you have the right to be paid fairly,” and, “[I]t is a serious problem when workers in this country are not being paid every cent they earn.”

Labor Day honors the progress of the labor movement

DOL: Labor Day is “a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.” According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s “History of Labor Day,” Labor Day “is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”

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Perino: Obama?s ?Relationship? With Americans Is Like My ?Friends Lamenting The Distance? With Their Boyfriends

Fox News contributor and former Bush White House Press Secretary Dana Perino has an interesting column up on FoxNews.com today. Perino appears to be very concerned about President Obama’s “relationship” with America. Looking back to the early days of Obama’s presidency — when “America was excited about its new relationship” with the country’s first African-American president — Perino digs deep into her vault of keen-eyed political analysis, looks at where Obama is today, and likens his relationship with the American people to her single friends’ bad romances with their boyfriends:

The coverage of the growing disconnect between President Obama and America reminds me of some of my single friends lamenting the distance they feel with their boyfriends. For some of them, there’s a pattern — intense excitement at the promise of a new relationship, followed by bewilderment and anger as it starts to unravel, and ending in broken hearts and healing mantras of, “He just wasn’t right for me.” […]

But hope sprang eternal – until another few months passed, and America started feeling jilted. “He just doesn’t understand me. He just doesn’t GET me. And, what’s worse, he doesn’t seem to care that he doesn’t. Lately I feel like he’s just saying what he thinks I want to hear. It’s like he’s just going through the motions.”.

But lucky for the President, the former Bush flack has some relationship advice. The President should “show us he cares,” Perino says:

In some relationships, couples seek counseling to work it out. The man might promise to try to pay more attention to the woman, to actually listen rather than just pretend to, and to show more emotion. She might agree to give him more space, support him more and nag him less. This can go on for a while, and sometimes people are able to work it out – if both parties are willing.

However, Perino doesn’t think Obama is going to work it out with the American people. “In the relationship between America and the president, it’s not clear that either party is willing to do what it takes to make it work,” she says, predicting that after the mid-terms, “many people are going to decide that it’s time they started seeing other people.” Let’s face it Mr. President, according to Perino, the American people are just not that into you.

Ryan Knocks GOP Tax Cut Fantasy: ?I’m Not One Of These People Who Says That All Tax Cuts Pay For Themselves?

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But on CNBC today, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the ranking GOP member on the House Budget Committee, splashed some cold water on that delusion, saying dismissively, “I’m not one of these people who says that say that all tax cuts pay for themselves”:

ZANDI: Congressman, the president has proposed allowing the tax rates for upper income individuals to rise back to where they were in the 1990s, the CBO says that’s going to cost $700 billion over the next ten years. Do you those estimates are correct?

RYAN: I actually, I don’t think they’re correct. … But the CBO just gave us a report, Mark, the other day, that said that if we allow these top tax rates to expire, it’s going to cost us 1.25 million jobs next year, it’s going to shave off a full percentage point off of GDP, and it’s going to slow down the economy.

QUICK: But Paul, you just quoted the CBO on those numbers, but disagreed with them on the others. Where did CBO get it wrong on the other numbers?

RYAN: Well, on the revenues, because I believe you’ll get faster economic growth. Look, I’m not one of these people who says that all tax cuts pay for themselves, but tax cuts on the margins is where the growth occurs. And that does make a difference.

Watch it:

Ryan has received tremendous praise from his GOP colleagues for his supposed policy knowledge and economic smarts. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called Ryan “sharp,” while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich labeled him “extraordinarily formidable,” and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) touted that Republicans, “led by Congressman Paul Ryan, have already identified $1.3 trillion in specific spending cuts.” Indeed, Paul is absolutely correct that tax cuts don’t always pay for themselves.

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