The Hollywood Liberal

Kentucky Millionaire Spends Big Bucks to Defeat DA Who Investigated Sexual Abuse at His Shady Nursing Home
We could see the purchase of not only political influence, but also ‘prosecutorial discretion’ as a result of the Citizens United ruling.

The Hater Party: How Right-Wing Candidates Have Turned Hate Into Political Currency
The running theme for campaigns supported by the Tea Party and other GOPers is hate: hate for us poor mamas, poor people of color, poor families and immigrants.

4 Reasons Why Jon Stewart’s Restoring Sanity Rally Is Great for Progressives
More than a Hollywood ploy or a field day for moderates, Jon Stewart’s and Stephen Colbert’s rally offers a real shot at reframing our politics.

Bluegrass Tea: How Rand Paul, Tea Party Darling, Learned to Love Mitch McConnell and the GOP Establishment
Rand Paul came to to the GOP table as an outsider, but there’s no way to win without holding hands with the ultimate insider — the Senate minority leader. So he is.

Steve Emerson’s Jihad Racket
I’ve long suspected that the anti-Muslim crusade in this country is a racket – a device for raking in bagfuls of cash, usually by scaring vulnerable people into thinking that without the work of these self-professed anti-jihad activists, the overthrow…

Can There Be Sagacity Without Sincerity?
Glad though I was last summer (and am now) to see ex- war hawk Peter Beinart indict much of American Jewish leadership for corrupting the American republic and Israeli democracy out of misplaced enthusiasm for bad Israeli strategies, I’ve always…

Washington Post Reverts to Truth-Dodging: ‘Blame the Ivies!’
They’re ba-a-ack! Now that America’s wealth “is more concentrated in fewer hands than it’s been in 80 years” and “the top one-tenth of one percent of Americans… earn as much as the bottom 120 million” (as Bob Reich put it…

Steve King Says Children Will Be Raised In ?Warehouses? If Conservatives Don’t ?Defend Marriage?
The Iowa Independent’s Lynda Waddington caught up with Rep. Steve King (R-IA) at the so-called “Judge Bus” tour — a campaign urging Iowa voters to oust three Iowa Supreme Court judges who overturned an Iowa statute banning same-sex marriage in April 2009. King has long argued that judges shouldn’t “legislate” from the bench, and said […]

The Iowa Independent’s Lynda Waddington caught up with Rep. Steve King (R-IA) at the so-called “Judge Bus” tour — a campaign urging Iowa voters to oust three Iowa Supreme Court judges who overturned an Iowa statute banning same-sex marriage in April 2009. King has long argued that judges shouldn’t “legislate” from the bench, and said that he feared the court’s decision would turn Iowa into a “gay marriage Mecca.” Yesterday, at a bus stop in Cedar Rapids, IA, he told Waddington that if conservatives don’t restrict marriage to one man and one woman, children will be taken away from their parents and to be raised in warehouses:

“I think that if we can’t defend marriage, that it becomes very hard to defend life,” King said. “Marriage is the crucible by which we pour all of our values and pass them on to our children, and that is how the culture is renewed each time. So, if we lose marriage — for instance, if our children are raised in warehouses, so to speak. There have been civilizations that have tried to do that. The Spartans did that. They took the children away and taught them to be warriors. It’s a good way to defend a country, but not much of a way to run a civilization.

“So, I’m afraid if that happened — if we lose the marriage, we lose the home, we lose the nuclear family then we can’t teach our values. We won’t be able to teach our faith. We won’t be able to teach life. We won’t be able to teach our Constitutional values either. That’s why I’m afraid it’s going to be very, very difficult to defend life.”

As the Wonk Room notes, Washington, DC, Iowa and the remaining four states that have expanded marriage rights haven’t constructed child-only warehouses. All the research about same-sex parents suggests that their families are very similar to those with different sex parents. (HT: Right Wing Watch)

How The ?US? Chamber Uses Its Money To Pay Pundits, Manipulate Google, And Create Fake News Outlets
Earlier this month, ThinkProgress published an exclusive series of investigative pieces into the fundraising program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the far right corporate lobbying juggernaut. We uncovered millions from corporations like Procter and Gamble, outsourcing giant CSC, and Microsoft, but also discovered that the Chamber has been actively fundraising from foreign corporations like […]

Earlier this month, ThinkProgress published an exclusive series of investigative pieces into the fundraising program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the far right corporate lobbying juggernaut. We uncovered millions from corporations like Procter and Gamble, outsourcing giant CSC, and Microsoft, but also discovered that the Chamber has been actively fundraising from foreign corporations like the Bahrain Petroleum Company and the State Bank of India. We provided documentation for over 80 foreign corporations donating at least $885,000 to the same Chamber 501(c)(6) general account the Chamber is now using to run an unprecedented $75 million attack campaign against Democrats.

Responding to our posts, the Chamber launched a massive smear campaign using its large in-house communications staff and a network of well funded public relations firms:

– Manipulating Google And Blogs: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce retains public relations giant Fleishman-Hillard for much of their online communications work. Fleishman-Hillard VP Pat Cleary posts on the Chamber’s blog, and says he works closely with conservative bloggers through RedState. Other Chamber lobbyists collaborate routinely with conservative bloggers through the Heritage Foundation’s Bloggers Briefing to help get the message out for business lobbyists. As Cleary has told conferences of business lobbyists, he helps trade associations like the Chamber buy AdWords to promote the business lobby’s message. For example, when anyone Googles the words “US Chamber” and “foreign,” they see a link to the Chamber’s false response that it receives only $100,000 from foreign affiliates.

– Paying For Television Pundits: GOP lobbyist John Feehery has appeared on cable television to attack ThinkProgress’ reporting, taken to Twitter call President Obama a “business-hating socialist” for calling attention to this story, and even penned an article in The Hill newspaper to defend the Chamber and lie about our investigation. Feehery never mentioned the foreign corporate direct donations to the Chamber’s 501(c)(6). But more importantly, neither The Hill nor any of television outlets Feehery appears on disclosed the fact that Feehery’s public relations firm, The Feehery Group, counts the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as one of its clients. Shortly after our story broke, Feehery was hired by another public relations/lobbying firm, Quinn Gillespie, which is also a client of the Chamber. Moreover, Fox News’ parent company is an active member of the Chamber, and hate-talker Glenn Beck met with the Chamber’s second in command earlier this year to plot the 2010 election. While Fox hosts and Beck have endlessly defended the Chamber’s secret money, there has been no disclosure of the network’s financial ties to Chamber lobbyists.

– The Chamber Owns Fake News Sites: As the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard reported, the Chamber owns a variety of news websites in West Virginia, Illinois, and elsewhere, while also maintaining a wire service called Legal Newsline. All of these websites posture as independently owned and objective journalism outfits, and do not disclose that they are fully owned subsidiaries of Chamber lobbyists.

Unfortunately, the Chamber’s sophisticated smear campaign deceived many reputable media organizations into distorting our reporting. Reporters from the New York Times (Eric Lichtblau), the Associated Press (Alan Fram, Jim Kuhnhenn), McClatchy (David Lightman), Time (Mark Halperin), and other outlets misrepresented ThinkProgress’ reporting by refusing to acknowledge any of our key revelations about the Chamber’s foreign fundraising (the fundraising documents we published, the Bahrainian or Indianian corporate donations). None of these reporters directly contacted ThinkProgress, and instead opted to only interview Chamber lobbyists.

In many cases, these traditional reporters reprinted the Chamber’s lie that it only fundraises from foreign affiliates called AmChams, and that AmChams are composed of only American companies (this has been thoroughly debunked). Ignoring ThinkProgess’ reporting, these journalists reprinted the Chamber’s unproven assertion that it only accepts $100,000 from foreign affiliates. In other cases, these reporters reprinted the Chamber’s false claim that its political operation is equivalent to labor unions. In fact, labor unions face double disclosure because they must reveal their donors to the public through both the Department of Labor and the Federal Election Commission. The Chamber, on the other hand, refuses to disclose both its American and foreign donors to anyone. Although ThinkProgress has demonstrated that the Chamber receives at a minimum of $885,000 in foreign cash every year to its primary 501(c)(6) campaign account, few journalists have bothered to cover the thrust of our story.

Most troops wouldn’t oppose serving with gays, survey finds
A majority of active-duty and reserve service members surveyed by the Defense Department would not object to serving and living alongside openly gay troops, according to multiple people familiar with the findings.

The very young guns of politics: 18-year-old friends seek spots on Pr. George’s school board
On Monday, David Murray stood on a sidewalk in front of the College Park Community Center. Early voting had begun in Maryland, and the candidate for the Prince George’s County Board of Education was trolling for votes.

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For better or for worse, Va’s Perriello wins Obama’s cheers
‘s not just that the first-term congressman is an unapologetic Democrat who defends his vote for the health-care overhaul with gusto. It’s that, in the thick of the fight last summer, when some Democrats hid from view, he held more town hall meetings than any other congressman in the country.

Report: Justice Department tried to hide officials involvement in dismissing voter-intimidation lawsuit
The Justice Department has tried to hide the involvement of high-level political officials in the dismissal of a controversial voter-intimidation lawsuit against members of the New Black Panther Party, a federal commission concluded in a draft report.

Dem Debacle? Don’t Be So Sure
Errol Louis, New York Daily News
The very bad day Democrats are expecting next Tuesday might not be as terrible as feared, according to some analysts not known for wishful thinking.There's abundant evidence – often ignored or discounted by mainstream media outlets – that the organized base of the Democratic Party is stirring in ways that pollsters and pundits are likely to miss.

Four Myths About the Tea Parties
John Judis, The New Republic
On the eve of the November elections, we are suddenly awash in books, articles, and monographs about the Tea Parties. Some of these—I would single out Sean Wilentz’s historical piece in The New Yorker—deepen our understanding, but most of them don’t get it right. They are too quick either to dismiss or to stigmatize the Tea Parties. And the mistakes they make are not just academic; they contribute to a misunderstanding of what it will take for liberals and the left—not to mention the Obama administration—to turn around…

On Daily Show, The Joke is on Obama
Dana Milbank, Washington Post
On Comedy Central, the joke was on President Obama Wednesday night.The president had come, on the eve of what will almost certainly be the loss of his governing majority, to plead his case before Jon Stewart, gatekeeper of the disillusioned left. But instead of displaying the sizzle that won him an army of youthful supporters two years ago, Obama had a Brownie moment.

Repub: Blacks Prefer Dealing Drugs to College
Republican Party leaders in central Illinois are calling on their own candidate for state senate to step down following racist remarks he made at a candidate’s forum last week. Al Reynolds, the Tea Party candidate in Illinois’ 52nd District, said that black men “find it more lucrative to be able to do drugs or other avenues rather than do education.” According to the Commercial-News in Illinois, area GOP leaders called on Reynolds to withdraw from the race but his campaign has yet to respond.

Late Late Night FDL: Land Of One Thousand Dances
Cannibal and the Headhunters — Land of One Thousand Dances.

Cannibal and the Headhunters — Land of One Thousand Dances.

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Stewart Gives Back to D.C.
As he prepares for Saturday’s “Rally to Restore Sanity” in Washington, D.C., Jon Stewart has been using his “Daily Show” platform to rustle up funds to help shape up and beautify the National Mall in our nation’s capital.

As he prepares for Saturday’s “Rally to Restore Sanity” in Washington, D.C., Jon Stewart has been using his “Daily Show” platform to rustle up funds to help shape up and beautify the National Mall in our nation’s capital.

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Olbermann: If The Tea Party Wins, America Loses (VIDEO)
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Beck connects Obama, Soros to “violent revolution” coming to “our shores”

Glenn Beck tied President Obama and George Soros to a group he has vilified for purportedly bringing “violent revolution” to “our shores.” Beck has repeatedly demonized Soros as “evil,” characterized Obama as a Soros pawn, and has accused Soros of putting a “bounty on my head.”

Beck ties Obama and Soros to The Coming Insurrection

Beck: Obama is “keeping his true identity in the shadows” because “[t]hey are not ready to be visible yet.” On the October 27 edition of his Fox News show, Beck criticized Obama for his use of teleprompters and said:

He is keeping his true identity in the shadows. He can’t risk being seen for what he really is, a radical. Every word must be scripted. They keep him on prompter for reason. In fact, I read about it just yesterday as I reread The Coming Insurrection. And this is not my marked copy. In the place where they’re talking at the very end about structure and the structure that’s not in place yet, they say, quote:

“Visibility must be avoided. But a force that gathers in the shadows cannot avoid it forever. Our appearances as a force must be reserved for the opportune moment. The longer we avoid visibility, the stronger we’ll be when it catches up with us. And once we become visible our days will be numbered. Either we will be in a position to break its hold in short order, or we will be crushed in time.”

So what is going on? Why is George Soros pumping all this money? Why are they coming after this show and you and Fox and the tea parties and everybody else? Because they’re not ready to be visible yet. And that is your greatest strength. Put light on their words. Make them visible. And watch them scurry.

Beck has claimed that The Coming Insurrection will bring “violent revolution” to “our shores”

Beck: The Coming Insurrection “calls for violent revolution” and is “about to come here to America.” On the July 1, 2009, edition of his Fox News show, Beck said (from the Nexis database):

The government — the government is so unbelievably out of control, they are so unbelievably blind to the things that are going on and arrogant, and then they warn that it’s the right-wing extremists — you know, the crazy people that like to talk about the Founding Fathers that might be domestic terrorists. “The New York Times” has said that I and Bill O’Reilly incite those crazy conservatives to violence.

Tonight, here is the One Thing that everybody seems to be missing: the extreme left on this planet is actively calling for violence. As world economies go down the tank and unemployment continues to rise — which some might say maybe some of these politicians actually want — the disenfranchised people are set to explode.

And now, I was handed this this morning when I got into work, I have been trying to get a copy of this for a while. It is a brand new book. It is a dangerous book. It is called “The Coming Insurrection” — “The Coming Insurrection.”

It is written by the Invisible Committee that calls for violent revolution; an anonymous group from France — of all places — called the Invisible Committee penned it. They want to bring down capitalism and the western way of life. This started in France and started to spread to countries like Greece and Iceland, where people are out of work, out of money and out of patience. Now, it’s about to come here to America.

The book comes out in English in August. I think it is August 9th. This is one of the first copies finished in English. The book was written after the riots in the Paris suburbs in 2005 that tore the country apart. Do you remember that? That was before the economy really got bad.

This book is the anti-common sense. In fact, I talk about books like this in “Common Sense,” in a section called “The Enemies Within.”

In this book, when I wrote this, I knew people like this — I didn’t know this book was coming out — but I knew people like this were going to show up, enemies within. And they were going to tell you to pick up a gun and they’re going to use every kind of emergency and stress to get you to do it.

This is a book about revolution. This is a book of peaceful revolution. This one is from the right — you know, the radicals everybody is so worried about in government. This one is from the left.

Let me read you just a little bit of this. “Take up arms. Do everything possible to make their use unnecessary. There is no such thing as a peaceful insurrection. Weapons are necessary.”

The French government is so freaked out about this book that they arrested nine people believed to have written “The Coming Insurrection,” on charges of criminal association for the purposes of terrorist activity, for allegedly sabotaging train lines in France.

Beck: The Coming Insurrection is “now on our shores.” On the December 17, 2009, edition of his Fox News show, Beck said (from Nexis):

OK. You have never seen anything like that from the Tea Party goers. Europeans have been promised this socialist communist Utopia for a very long time. They were told, just play it down, we will get it through, we will get it through slowly but the government, those people on the left in the government have not delivered and the people there, the ones who have been promised the radicals are fed up. I told you earlier this summer about a book from Europe. I was handed this morning when I got to work. I have been trying to get a copy of this for a while. It is a brand new book. It is a dangerous book. It is called “The Coming Insurrection.”

OK. It is now on our shores. When you’ve seen Copenhagen, he’s from the coming insurrection. This little book is dangerous. It talks — you must destroy the family. You must go in. They’re tired of waiting. It is a book of communism. The extreme Uber left. Michael Moore said that he was reading this book over the summer. The left is at a tipping point in America. They have huge majorities, a progressive president, and they feel this is our time.

Beck: “This is quite possibly the most evil thing I’ve ever read.” On the February 10 edition of his Fox News show, Beck said (from Nexis):

Let me show you what his finished product looks like. It’s this. I told you last summer read this book. It’s “The Coming Insurrection.” It’s by the invisible committee.

This is quite possibly the most evil thing I’ve ever read and it’s about to play out in the streets of Greece. It’s been played out in France.

The story is written by 12 people. Some of them were in jail now over in Europe. They’re actual communists. They’ve been masquerading as democratic socialists. “Oh, we’re not Marxists, we’re not communists, we’re like you.”

And they got into bed with their politicians, their version of Nancy Pelosi and they were backing those people. And according to the book, they realized those people aren’t serious, just like Van Jones on the left is starting to figure out that Barack Obama, they’re starting to say, “Wait a minute, is this guy serious? Is he going to do it? We had an unspoken understanding. He is going to bring us the socialist utopia.”

Well, this is their manifest. And the message is: everyone in government has been lying to you. And that’s why they call for the coming insurrection.

This is evil stuff. These are the things that will free the worker. In it, one chapter on how to destroy the family.

On Friday, I’m going to spend a full hour on Europe — because everything that’s happening over there is going to play out over here if we’re not careful. You have to know the truth of “The Coming Insurrection.”

Beck: The Coming Insurrection “urges people to go get in the streets and be violent.” On the May 3 edition of his Fox News show, Beck said (from Nexis):

Last year, I showed you this book. And, of course, the media was like, “Glenn, you crazy conspiracy theory.” This is a book called “The Coming Insurrection.” I asked you last summer to please read it and said you want to know what the future is, read it.

It’s one of the most evil books — I mean, it talks about how to go in and destroy families. It’s basically, cause trouble. That’s what it is.

It’s put out by the invisible committee. It’s 12 communists. I think some of them are professors. What a surprise.

And basically what it is, is Europe promised us a social communist utopia. And they’re never going to give it to us. And the whole thing is on the verge of collapse. So, now, let’s go get it — and it urges people to go get in the streets and be violent.

Beck has spent months demonizing Soros

Beck: Soros is “looking to replace the capitalist system once it’s been destroyed.” On June 21, Beck said, “I don’t know if [George Soros] is a radical that’s been trying to implement the Cloward and Piven strategy on collapsing the system.” Beck went on to claim that Soros is “one of the guys looking to replace the capitalist system once it has been destroyed.” This accusation is based on a distortion of a Soros quote. Soros said that the international currency system — not the capitalist system — is “broken and needs to be reconstituted.”

Beck suggests Soros will try to have him killed. On June 21, while detailing the conspiracy theory that the U.S. is funneling money to Brazilian oil company Petrobras in order to enrich George Soros, Beck said, “Gasoline Brazil. Now why am I telling you about this? Have you heard of another word? Soros. George Soros. I do have a bulletproof car, George. I just want you to know.”

Beck: Soros is “evil.” On his June 7 show, Beck said: “Who are the elites? I mean, you could put a billion people up here. But Al Gore — he’s just trying to help the planet, that’s all he’s trying to do. That’s all he’s — George Soros, he’s just — I don’t know what he’s — he’s evil. ‘Well, I’m just trying to help tell you that it’s all unsustainable, and we got to raise taxes.’ And here are some more elites. OK? They’re taking from you. You can’t afford it. They’re taking it from you and giving it, under the guise of giving it to the poor, to their elites. That’s what is happening. Hello?”

Beck accused “spooky dude” Soros of orchestrating a collapse of American currency to enrich himself. On the October 5 edition of Glenn Beck, Beck claimed that Soros “thought the dollar needs to be devalued” and cited a Financial Times op-ed in which Soros argued for more stimulus spending. Beck said, “Spooky dude says spend more money.” He added: “I don’t know if this is the start of the latest, you know, Soros push to collapse a currency. I don’t know if this is it; oh, but it’s coming. Be prepared, because powerful people like George Soros would like that to happen. Because they’re preparing. Have you?”

Beck called Soros the “king” and Barack Obama a pawn. On the September 15 edition of Glenn Beck, Beck displayed a large chess board, which he claimed would illustrate “how far the establishment would go to protect the power that they have built up.” Beck assigned various figures roles based on the pieces of the chess game. Beck said, “Now who are the king and queen and advisers and the knights, the protection of the castle.” Grabbing the king piece, Beck continued, “Well, if I may — I think you’ve got Soros.” Beck later said that Barack and Michelle Obama were “pawns.”

Beck: Soros put a “$1 million bounty on my head.” On the October 21 edition of Glenn Beck, Beck claimed that “progressives” were “working overtime to gain control.” He added:

This is their opportunity, and you are seeing them now remove the masks. I told you they would about a year ago.

They can’t win on the battlefield of ideas, so they have to resort to the battlefield of attack. George Soros yesterday gave $1 million to his favorite progressive hack site, which is nothing less than $1 million bounty on my head.

George, I’m a little nervous about my life and the life of my family. I don’t think you should be inciting violence. There are nut jobs that might take all of your words. Union members, Color of Change, SEIU, Media Matters, Tides Foundation. Tides Foundation did 10-2-10. Those are revolutionaries. Don’t incite them, please.