The effort to liberate VA-8 from “Gentleman” Jim Moran’s reign of error continues apace. The candidate is fresh off of a news conference to answer the mail on the 06 October offensive remarks Moran made.
Murray momentum grows. The bus is stocked and fueled. It will be cruising the district, spreading the word that there is a better way than Moran’s approach.
The phones are fully staffed by the most awesome talent available:
Tellingly, it appears that Moran has withdrawn from tomorrow night’s penultimate debate. Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Moran! The Murray campaign is not confident that Moran can muster the fortitude to support the final debate.
This blog empathizes with Moran’s staff and hope the résumé work goes well for them.
In a scathing 338-page report released today, a federal watchdog exposes the failure of the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout and suggests Treasury Department officials engaged in a politically motivated attempt to hide losses at bankrupt insurance giant AIG with “manipulated” data.
“Treasury should have disclosed that it had changed its valuation methodology and should have published a side-by-side comparison of its new numbers with what the projected losses would be under the auditor-approved methodology that Treasury had used previously and will use in the future,” says the report from the office of Neil Barofsky, special inspector general known as SIGTARP. “This conduct has left the Treasury vulnerable to charges it has manipulated its methodology for calculating losses to present two different numbers depending on its audience.”
One set of numbers about AIG losses was released in “early October as part of a multifaceted publicity campaign touting the positive aspects of TARP,” the report says, while a second set of audited numbers was provided to the GAO for a November release. . . .
Read the whole thing. Looks like Barofsky’s got ’em caught red-handed, and Tim Geithner might get his long-overdue tossing under the Obama bus. Big hat-tip for the Twitter tip from Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge, who says:
“If after all this disclosure Geithner does not resign, well, America truly will have the Treasury Secretary, not to mention administration, it deserves.”
Indeed.
UPDATE: Nobody gives a damn, I guess. Drudge is headlining a story about Treasury bond yields (!) and another about the ballooning deficit, but seems not to have noticed this news that the Treasury Department has been caught cooking the books.
UPDATE II: The Obama administration’s efforts to suppress economic bad news has been abetted, of course, by the media. Kudos to CBS News for this surprisingly straightforward “60 Minutes” feature on the ugly realities of unemployment:
Don’t worry, Nancy. If the Democrats get wiped out on Nov. 2 — “Five Signs Your Party Is Doomed” — I’m sure you’ll get lots of credit for that. The guy in the White House has plenty of room for you under his bus.
In general, I avoid the “liberals are hypocrites” line of argument that highlights episodes of Democrats engaging in sexism, racism and homophobia, because (a) plenty of other conservatives employ that argument, and (b) my feeling is that political correctness exaggerates the extent and/or danger of these postmodern “sins” against the Religion of Tolerance.
Sexism? American women are the most privileged women in all of human history. Homophobia? Every socioeconomic analysis I’ve ever seen shows gays in America well above average in education, career status and per-capita income. Racism? One of the reasons I’ve so often been smeared as a “white supremacist” is because I dispute the liberal narrative that depicts U.S. minorities as helpless victims of Caucasian oppression.
Given my skepticism toward these “sins” of political correctness, then, it ill behooves me to point the accusing finger at a liberal and scream: “RAAAAACISM!” (Remember: 5 A’s.) Being a crusader against bigotry just isn’t my thing. Prejudice is a permanent fact of human nature, and to run around denouncing other people as haters implies that one has a roadmap to Utopia where everyone holds hands and sings “Kumbaya.” Besides, in the Obama Age, becoming a raaaaacistis as easy as voting Republican.
These caveats aside, however, a thing of beauty is a joy forever:
There are multiple layers of irony here, but time is short, there is much work to be done and so I won’t bother to peel this onion further. Feel free, however, to have at it in the comments.
So much of the smoke and mirrorssuccess of the current administration, and the Men from O.R.G.A.S.M., is predicated upon an audience of willing dupes. For them, no good can come of this.
How is it that CBS wandered off the reservation? Also, given that this is 60 Minutes, how valid is any of it?
Centralization is the real problem. The religious leap of faith required to believe the Federal Government capable of being the Jobs Bringer is one that merits continual ridicule. DC should be chopped back, so that the States can sink or swim on their own merit.
This scene works not only from the standpoint of pedagogy, but also leadership. Would that the cool, thick-skinned control of the situation could be transferred to a few petulant politicians cluttering public office today.
Yeah, everybody and his dog has already posted that video, but I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to point out how completely Charlie Crist has screwed himself and the GOP Establishment.
Less than 18 months ago, when Genius John Cornyn and the NRSC endorsed Crist — “Those treacherous bastards!” — polls showed Crist leading Rubio by more than 30 points. And while the grassroots rallied to Rubio, a lot of the Republican “smart money” went to Crist. It was not until January, after Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts, that we saw the first poll showing Rubio ahead. By mid-February, after his rousing CPAC speech, Rubio was ahead by double digits and by the end of April, Crist quit the GOP.
Before he quit, however, Crist had managed to hoover up a crapload of that Republican “smart money.” By the end of 2009, Crist had raised nearly $9 million.
Now? Charlie Crist’s campaign is nearly broke — “running on fumes,” as the St. Petersburg Times reported last week. By the end of September, he had burned through nearly $12 million and had $1.4 million left for the 33-day home stretch of the campaign, while Rubio reported more than $5 million cash on hand.
Rubio is leading by double digits in the polls now and it is possible that Crist’s support could further deteriorate so that Sorry Charlie finishes third behind Democrat Kendrick Meek.
Twelve million dollars. Man, that “smart money” sure was dumb.
Wednesday night at the beginning of a debate between Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean, GOP challenger Joe Walsh and Green Party candidate Bill Scheurer. The debate for Illinois 8th congressional district took place at Grayslake Central High School. While League of Women Voters moderator Kathy Tate-Bradish began explaining the rules of the debate an audience member raised his hand and (when called upon) asked if they were going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance. When she said no, the audience booed and almost all in the crowd of more than 300 stood and enthusiastically recited it anyway.
RTWT. The Lid goes on to expose Kathy Tate-Bradish as a partisan hack, Obama and ACORN tool, whose actions stand in stark contrast with the mission of, well, any non-partisan organization, as well as the common-sense guidelines that form the basis of public debate.
This blog decries the idiocy on display, and re-affirms its commitment to positive affirmations of national identity, for example, the Pledge of Allegiance. Joe Walsh, the GOP candidate in IL-8, gets a shout-out to the atrocious Tate-Bradish from his namesake:
And thanks to The Lid for the investigative reporting.
Katy: “We just love each other and we want to get married in front of our friends and family and keep it very normal. It ain’t about selling the pictures, it ain’t about doing no pre-nup, it’s just a normal thing.”
