Republican Desperation in Salt Lake County

Look what I found driving in Holladay today:

Not only is this sign illegally placed, but it's also highly illegal as it has no indication of who paid for the signs.

Not only that, but it also smacks of desperation.  Doesn't exactly sound like a campaign that's up 10 points, does it?  (More on that in another post.)

In fact, it really is sad that the only thing Mark Crockett can campaign on is how "liberal" Ben McAdams is.  I've gotten two mailers from Crockett the past few days telling me this.

Not only is the sign illegal and the campaign tactic desperate, but it's a flat out lie.  Find me one person who honestly thinks Ben McAdams is as liberal as Rocky Anderson.  In fact, I'd be willing to be that both men would scoff at the notion.

Anyway, however liberal Ben McAdams may be, he is willing to bring all sides together to find a common ground.  The world of politics needs more Ben McAdamses.  Salt Lake County needs Ben McAdams.

Touchdown Romney, Game (not) Over

Mitt Romney won last night's debate. However, the game is not over.

 You see, Mitt needed a win. And knowing that he only needed a tie, Obama played not to lose, and lost. It was the political equivalent of a football team playing prevent defense. You send three linemen at the quarterback and drop the other 8 into coverage. Most of the time, playing prevent defense allows the quarterback time to throw, and receivers more time to shake the defenders, allowing the offense to march down the field. It's cost the University of Utah several games against BYU the past several years (and almost cost them this year's game).

 It's bad to play prevent defense when you are up by less than a touchdown, but even worse when you are down 17 in the 4th. A stop makes it very difficult to win. Allowing a touchdown gives your opponent momentum and confidence. But, you're still up 10 points. The game isn't over. Do you run down the clock, hoping your prevent defense will last until election day? Or do you play your norm, moving the ball effectively and efficiently down the field, hoping to play just as much offense to run the clock to 0:00?  Or, do you run wide-open aggressiveness, hoping you can stick the final nail in the coffin, but also hoping you don't throw an interception, allowing your opponent to have good field position.

I think a good place to start is by pointing out that It's easy to score a touchdown when you have 12 men on the field win a debate when you tell a lie every minute and 24 seconds, not counting lies you repeat.

We'll see what kind of coaches Team Obama has.  I just hope it's not Kyle Wittingham.

-Bob

Mitt Romney: Frequent, Flagrant, Brazen Liar

Interesting bit from the Guardian about Mitt Romney's dishonesty.  Some highlights:

 Quite simply, the United States has never been witness to a presidential candidate, in modern American history, who lies as frequently, as flagrantly and as brazenly as Mitt Romney.
Now, in general, those of us in the pundit class are really not supposed to accuse politicians of lying – they mislead, they embellish, they mischaracterize, etc. Indeed, there is natural tendency for nominally objective reporters, in particular, to stay away from loaded terms such as lying. Which is precisely why Romney's repeated lies are so effective. In fact, lying is really the only appropriate word to use here, because, well, Romney lies a lot. But that's a criticism you're only likely to hear from partisans.

The author then talks about the bit in Romney's book about President Obama going around the world to "apologize" for America, which in the real world never happened.  

President Obama never went around the world and apologized for America – and yet, even after multiple news organizations have pointed out this is a "pants on fire" lie, Romney keeps making it. Indeed, the "Obama apology tour", along with the president bowing down to the King of Saudi Arabia, are practically the lodestars of the GOP's criticism of Obama's foreign policy performance (the Saudi thing isn't true either).

 He then goes on to list several more Romney lies about the economy, stimulus, auto bailout, Obamacare.  But then we get down to the "Brass tax" of it all:

The lying from the Romney campaign is so out-of-control that Steve Benen, a blogger and producer for the Rachel Maddow show compiles a weekly list of "Mitt's Mendacity" that is chockfull of new untruths. Benen appears unlikely to run out of material any time soon, particularly since Romney persists in repeating the same lies over and over, even after they've been debunked.

This is perhaps the most interesting and disturbing element of Romney's tireless obfuscation: that even when corrected, it has little impact on the presumptive GOP nominee's behavior. This is happening at a time when fact-checking operations in major media outlets have increased significantly, yet that appears to have no effect on the Romney campaign.

What is the proper response when, even after it's pointed out that the candidate is not telling the truth, he keeps doing it? Romney actually has a telling rejoinder for this. When a reporter challenged his oft-stated assertion that President Obama had made the economy worse (factually, not correct), he denied ever saying it in the first place. It's a lie on top of a lie.

As a song we used to sing in Primary says "When you tell one lie, it leads to another..." 


And, in conclusion, a paragraph I wish I had written, because it so well sums up my feelings about Mitt:

Romney is charting new and untraveled waters in American politics. In the process, he is cynically eroding the fragile sense of trust that exists between voters and politicians. It's almost enough to make one pine for the days when Sarah Palin lied about "the Bridge to Nowhere".

Fact-Checking Governor Herbert -- Dew Tour Edition

This is probably the most petty post I'll write this week. But, facts matter. And, when you get them wrong, sometimes it's funny.

Take This quote from the Deseret News article about Governor Herbert welcoming the Dew Tour back to Utah:

Herbert said he was impressed with how sports in the state have evolved over the years.

"It's much more diverse," he said, then listing some interesting facts about the tour's appearance in Utah. Such as:

In 2009 Salt Lake City had the highest attendance of any stop on the Dew Tour with 57,329 fans.

It was broadcast in 50 countries and 180 million homes. On tape delay, it was broadcast into another 180 countries. "It's 58 hours of live television coverage," Herbert said.

Now, I am willing to say that the Deseret News misquoted the Governor. Especially in light of an article posted online a few days ago that said that Jimmy Carter was in the White House AFTER Ronald Reagan.

But, let's assume the DNews got it right. It means the Governor got it wrong.

He said that it is broadcast in 230 countries ("50 countries" + another 180 countries "on tape delay"). However, the US State Department only recognizes 194 countries. And, if he meant 180 countries including those via tape delay, that means that only 14 countries don'tget to see it. I wonder which ones those are.

And, he said it's 58 hours of LIVE television coverage. According to this schedule from the Dew Tour, there are only 33.5 hours that gates are open in total. Competition doesn't encompass that whole time, and there's only 1.5 hours that there is more than one competition going on at the same time. Not to mention that comparing that schedule with TV Listings shows that not all of it is broadcast anyway.

So, there's an extra 24 hours of live broadcast left to fill this weekend. Maybe Governor Herbert can use that time to figure out who is running this state.

-Bob

DISCLAIMER: This post reflects only my opinions, and not the opinions of my employers, nor those of their clients, promoters, or sponsors.

Hey, LG Bell: Who's making the personal attacks?

Dear Lt Governor Bell:

I just saw the ad you made on behalf of your campaign. In it, you mention that Utahns want a discussion on issues, not personal attacks.

Saying someone is doing a bad job is not a personal attack.

And, for that matter, when someone comes out with an education proposal, and you say "What does he know about public schools? He sends his kids to private schools." That is a personal attack. An attack for making a choice that Gov Herbert used to support.

And then trying to say that you opponent is trying to take away Seminary? Another attack, not a substantive debate on the issues.

So, stop lying, and let's have a real debate.

-Bob

Glenn Beck Caught In Another Bald-Faced Lie

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Carl Wimmer's Bogus Immigration Numbers

Carl Wimmer on KSL's Sunday Edition:

"From the Bureau of Criminal Identification -- and these are hard statistics -- in Salt Lake City, Chief [Chris] Burbank's jurisdiction, 81 percent of the homicides, when you have a recorded ethnicity, are committed by Hispanics,"

BCI shows that 18 people were arrested in Salt Lake City for homicides in 2008. 9 were Hispanic, 2 were not Hispanic, and 7 were of unknown ethnicity.

However, the Salt Lake Police Department has slightly different numbers for 2008. According to them, there were 19 homicide arrests that year. The racial makeup was as follows: 3 Caucasian, 7 Hispanic, 3 Polynesian, 5 African-American, and one Native American.

However, nothing in either set of numbers tells us how many of those arrests were of people here illegally. Not all Hispanics are here illegally.

And, just because you get arrested for homicide doesn't make you guilty.

-Bob

p.S. I want to see Carl Wimmer's papers. I don't believe that he's here legally.....

Orrin Hatch's Pants are on Fire, Probably Hanging On Telephone Wire

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Glenn Beck is a Big Fat Liar

Wo be unto Buttars, for he shall be thrust down to Hell......

From PRIDE In Utah:

Sunday evening, Utah Senator Chris Buttars was interviewed live at his home in West Jordan by KUTV. During the interview, Buttars was asked about the infamous interview he gave to “8: The Mormon Proposition” director Reed Cowan in which he claimed that gay people are the “biggest threat to America going down.” Buttars told KUTV tonight that Mr. Cowan deceived him during the interview by wearing a “BYU T-Shirt” to the interview in order to lull the Senator into security. Um… there are photos proving that’s a lie Buttars. Here they are.

Even if Mr Cowan DID wear a BYU T-shirt, it still doesn't excuse what was said. Furthermore, I'd still like to know how Senator Buttars knows so much about Pig Sex.

-Bob

P.S.- The title of this post comes from 2 Nephi 9:34 in the Book of Mormon

RNC Chairman Steele either a prophet or a liar

TPM:

Appearing today on Laura Ingraham's radio show, RNC chairman Michael Steele said that he wrote his book Right Now before he became chairman. The problem is, the book itself doesn't read like it could have possibly been written before January 2009 -- it was clearly written in late 2009, either in November or December, and is based entirely on current events up to that point.

[...]

The book is full of references to current events in 2009: The stimulus bill, the health care debate, foreign policy, ACORN, the party switch of Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the Tea Parties and the 9/12 March on Washington, etc.

On page 38, Steele uses a partial quote from Barney Frank, which was spoken on the Ed Schultz show on October 26, 2009. Steele also takes the quote amazingly out of context, as a Nexis search would demonstrate, to give the misleading impression that Frank was openly admitting that Democrats want to control every last area of the economy -- but that's another story.

On page 61, Steele says of Obama: "He champions bipartisanship, but he supports a process where Nancy rams a 2,000-page healthcare bill through the House of Representatives on a Saturday night with just a single Republican vote." That vote occurred on November 7, 2009.

In his chapter, "Take Back National Security," Steele discusses the Iranian elections, the Honduran political crisis, and the Fort Hood shooting, among many other hot topics of this past year.

[...]

But even those are mixed in with current events. For example, the chapter on previous Republican failures also includes, on pages 27-29, a discussion of the November 2009 elections. He refers to the gubernatorial victories of Chris Christie (R-NJ) and Bob McDonnell (R-VA), and the three-way roller-coaster ride in NY-23 of Democrat Bill Owens, moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava, and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

And finally, Steele refers to himself on pages 14, 28, and 73, as being the chairman of the Republican National Committee.

War and Peace vs Health Care Bill myth

Listen to most Republicans talk about the current health care bills, and you'd think the only thing they have against it is that it's too long. In fact, some (Like Senator Hatch) claim that it's longer than War and Peace.

Well, the double-spaced, printed large enough for Senators to see version has more pages than your typical copy of War and Peace. However, as anyone who has had to write a "5-page paper" before teachers learned about word count knows, you can increase your page count by double-spacing and using slightly larger typeface.

In fact, according to the Associated Press, the House Health Care Bill weighed in at 319,145 words. The Senate version is 318,512 words.

Most English translations of War and Peace are between 560,000 and 670,000 words long.

-Bob

I stand behind Joe Wilson

At the President's Speech before Congress last Night, South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson shouted back at the President.

"You Lie"

And now, he is being blasted by the left for his breech of decorum. His opponent has raised over $200,000 since Rep Wilson's breach of decorum.

I think the fact that President Obama was telling the truth when Rep Wilson made his outburst stands for itself.

However, I wish more Congresscritters would be willing to stand up and say it. I would have loved if my own RepINO Matheson (or any of the other of the 535 Congresspeople) blurted out "You Lie!" just one of the times I yelled Bullshit to my TV when Bush was delivering a State of the Union.

Or, if Joe Biden had said it during his debate with Sarah Palin.

I enjoy watching Parliament, because they can heckle each other, especially when the Prime Minister comes to visit.

Heck, it would make C-SPAN watchable.

-Bob

P.S. I also wanted to point out that 8 months ago, if you shouted "you lie" at the President of the United States, you'd be called a traitor and Unamerican.

McLie/Palyin '08

Barack Obama Calls John McCain a Liar For Lying

McCain's "Disreqpectful" ad is, well, disrespectful and dishonest

The ad:



And, from factcheck.org:

The McCain-Palin campaign has released a new TV ad that distorts quotes from the Obama campaign. It takes words out of context to make it sound as though the Democratic ticket is belittling Palin:

* The ad says "they said she was doing 'what she was told.' " But the Obama adviser who's being quoted didn't accuse Palin of meekly following orders. What he actually said is that she made a false claim about Obama's legislative record and added, "maybe that's what she was told."

* It says "they lashed out at Sarah Palin; dismissed her as 'good looking,' " But "they" didn't lash out at all. Obama – who is the one pictured – didn't say anything like that. The only one the McCain campaign quotes is Obama's running mate, Biden, and he actually offered the remark as a compliment. Biden said the "obvious" difference between Palin and himself is "she's good looking."

* The ad says Obama was "disrespectful" when he accused Palin of "lying" about her record. But the truth is Palin's claim to have "said no" to the "bridge to nowhere" is indeed a dubious one, as we and many have pointed out.

Cindy McCain's Lie: Only Child

From NPR:

Last Tuesday, NPR broadcast a story about Cindy McCain's business and charity work. In it, Ted Robbins described McCain as the only child of Jim Hensley, a wealthy Arizona businessman.

[...]

She's been described that way by news organizations from The New Yorker and The New York Times to Newsweek and ABC.

McCain herself routinely uses the phrase "only child," as she did on CNN last month. "I grew up with my dad," she said then. "I'm an only child. My father was a cowboy, and he really loved me very much, but I think he wanted a son occasionally."

Except, it's not exactly true. Jim Hensley had more than one child.....

Documents show Kathleen Anne Hensley was born to Jim and Mary Jeanne Hensley on Feb. 23, 1943. They had been married for six years when Kathleen was born.

Jim Hensley was a bombardier on a B-17, flying over Europe during World War II.

He was injured and sent to a facility in West Virginia to recuperate. During that time, while still married to Mary Jeanne, Hensley met another woman — Marguerite Smith. Jim divorced Mary Jeanne and married Marguerite in 1945.

Cindy Lou Hensley was born nine years later, in 1954.

She may have grown up as an only child, but so did her half sister, Kathleen, who was raised by a single parent.

Portalski says she did see her father and her half sister from time to time.

"I saw him a few times a year," she says. "I saw him at Christmas and birthdays, and he provided money for school clothes, and he called occasionally."

Sarah Palin is a Liar

From Frank Rich's excellent, you-must-read-it, column:

We still don’t know a lot about Palin except that she’s better at delivering a speech than McCain and that she defends her own pregnant daughter’s right to privacy even as she would have the government intrude to police the reproductive choices of all other women. Most of the rest of the biography supplied by her and the McCain camp is fiction.

She didn’t say “no thanks” to the “Bridge to Nowhere” until after Congress had already abandoned it but given Alaska a blank check for $223 million in taxpayers’ money anyway. Far from rejecting federal pork, she hired lobbyists to secure her town a disproportionate share of earmarks ($1,000 per resident in 2002, 20 times the per capita average in other states). Though McCain claimed “she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities,” she has never issued a single command as head of the Alaska National Guard. As for her “executive experience” as mayor, she told her hometown paper in Wasilla, Alaska, in 1996, the year of her election: “It’s not rocket science. It’s $6 million and 53 employees.” Her much-advertised crusade against officials abusing their office is now compromised by a bipartisan ethics investigation into charges that she did the same.

Oh, and that plane she says she sold on eBay for a profit? Listed three times on eBay, later sold by a broker for a loss of $500,000.

No wonder she won't do any media interviews.

I might add that she wants privacy for her family, yet issues a press release about the pregnancy and upcoming shotgun wedding of her daughter, then drag her and her betrothed in front of the cameras.....

Exposing McCain/Palin's lies re: Bridge to Nowhere

This is a major point the Republicans bring up when talking about the effectiveness of Sarah Palin's 20 months as Alaska's Governor.

And, like most things coming out of their mouths, it's not exactly the truth.

(Hat Tip: RedStateBlues)

[Correction] Today's Bill Dew RoboCall is not Lying to You

Transcript of a robocall left on my voice mail about an hour ago:

Bill Dew

Hi, I'm Bill Dew, Republican running for Congress. Congress is on vacation, not working on the energy crisis because of one vote -- Jim Matheson's vote. That one vote was the difference. If I was your Congressman, Congress would still be in Washington where they should be. This is one example of why we need change get involved go to billdew.com. This message may repeat.

[updated 8/19/08 3:06 PM -- It turns out that I was wrong. As Dan Burton, a friend of mine for years, informed me, it takes more than a simple majority to adjourn. If the vote had been a 15-vote difference, they wouldn't have adjourned.

In other words, it's Chris Cannon's fault for not voting....

Anyway, all the stuff below this is wrong.

Anyone spot the One Lie?

That's right! Apparently, if we elect Bill Dew as our Congresman, his vote will be worth 16 votes.

Because that's actually the number of votes that sent congress on their previously scheduled vacation. One-six.

Oops.