2012 Presidential Debate Schedule

The dates and venues have been announced for the 2012 Presidential debates between President Obama and Mitt Romney. The date for the Vice Presidential debate has also been announced.

Tickets for the 2012 general election debates are controlled by the Commission on Presidential Debates and are extremelylimited since the debates are primarily produced for television. The majority of tickets are distributed to host university students and faculty through a lottery system with the remaining tickets going to friends and families of the campaigns and the media. Please contact the individual colleges hosting the debates for specific ticketing information.

October 3, 2012	Topic: Domestic policy Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time Location: University of Denver in Denver, Colorado Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates Participants: President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney Moderator: To be announced The debate will focus on domestic policy and be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on topics to be selected by the moderator and announced several weeks before the debate. The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the topic.
October 11, 2012 Vice Presidential	Topic: Foreign and domestic policy Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time Location: Centre College in Danville, Kentucky Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates Participants: Vice President Joe Biden and the GOP Vice Presidential nominee Moderator: To be announced The debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics and be divided into nine time segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the question.
October 16, 2012	Topic: Town meeting format including foreign and domestic policy Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time Location: Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates Participants: President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney Moderator: To be announced The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which citizens will ask questions of the candidates on foreign and domestic issues. Candidates each will have two minutes to respond, and an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion. The town meeting participants will be undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization.
October 22, 2012	Topic: Foreign policy Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time Location: Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates Participants: President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney Moderator: To be announced The format for the debate will be identical to the first presidential debate and will focus on foreign policy.

40% of voters could cast ballots before Election Day

At an ever-growing rate thanks to a myriad of state voting law changes, up from 33% in 2008, a record 40% of votes could be cast prior to Election Day with the advent of "no excuse" absentee voting and early voting in some states.

Report from the National Journal:

From in-person at designated polling places to absentee . . . → Read More: "40% of voters" could cast ballots before Election Day

Romney to announce VP via smartphone app

News out today that the Romney campaign intends to announce the vice presidential pick through a smartphone app. If you'll recall, the Obama 2008 campaign attempted to make the announcement via text message to supporters but the ordeal didn't pan out all that well since the Secret Service detail at Biden's house sort of blew the secret.

Report from Yahoo News:

Four years ago, then-Sen. Barack Obama made his vice presidential choice public by sending a mass text message to supporters. On Tuesday, Mitt Romney's campaign announced it will make its announcement through a smartphone app.

The campaign launched an app called "Mitt's VP," which will send the news straight to a smartphone using push notifications and then allow the user to easily spread the word on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

"The first official way to learn the name of the Republican Vice Presidential candidate is by using our new 'Mitt's VP' app," said Romney's digital director, Zac Moffatt, in a statement. "Users of the app will be the first to get the news on the biggest political decision of the year through an instantaneous alert on the one device most people carry around the clock—their phone."

Here is "Mitt's VP" app on iTunes for all inclined. I installed my copy just to be on the cutting edge of reporting it here first though I'm betting the name will leak before the notification goes out through the app.

The Biggest Lies From The Right

1. President Obama is soft on terrorism/won't protect the country/is a Muslim sympathizer. From the time Obama took office, he has had to contend with a Republican campaign to portray him as weak on national security. The attacks really took off after the unsuccessful attempt by the "underwear bomber" on Christmas Day 2009, as the Republicans engaged in what Steve Benen brilliantly described as a "collective display of pants-wetting."

But the record shows that Obama has been more aggressive than his predecessor was in targeting and killing terrorist group leaders, including authorizing more drone attacks. But the last couple of weeks really made the Republican scare tactics look downright silly. First, NATO bombed Muammar Gaddafi's home, killing his son. Then, putting nearly 10 long years of frustration to bed, Obama authorized a daring and well-planned operation to kill Osama bin Laden at his retreat in the suburbs of Islamabad. (Remember, George W. Bush didn't prioritize catching or killing bin Laden.)

And while terrorists may be able to strike in the United States no matter what precautions are taken by the president, it is telling that the greatest domestic terrorist attack of the last 100 years took place on Bush's watch (despite being given a memo in August 2001 entitled "Bin Laden determined to strike in US"), but, to date, under Obama, no foreign attacks have been successful on U.S. soil.

Based on the week's events, Republicans will look idiotic if they again try to engage in scare tactics based on an idea that Obama isn't capable of keeping the American people safe.

2. President Obama wants to raise your taxes. These attacks were works of pure fiction, given that Obama campaigned that he wouldn't raise taxes on anyone making more than $250,000 per year, and would cut taxes on most families below that range. And what did he do? Exactly what he promised. In fact, he went beyond his campaign promise, agreeing to extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone, including the wealthy. The result? The Bureau of Economic Analysis just found that Americans now enjoy their lowest tax burden since 1958.

You can argue the wisdom of extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy (I think it was a horrible decision that will further increase the deficit while helping nobody who needs assistance). But despite the fear mongering tactics of Republicans who promised the American people Obama wanted raise their taxes, he has been a tax-cutting president.

3. President Obama wasn't born in the United States. The thing is, it's not like anyone with a quarter of a brain actually doubted Obama's place of birth. After all, he released a scan of his birth certificate in 2008, and Honolulu newspapers reported his birth at the time. But on April 27, as unnecessary as it was, Obama released his long-form birth certificate, putting the issue to rest once and for all.

Many Republicans claim they never questioned Obama's place of birth, and that the birthers represented a small percentage of the party. But even days before Obama released his long-form birth certificate, a CBS News/New York Times poll showed that 45 percent of Republicans believed the president was born outside of the United States. And more importantly, most Republican politicians and pundits who claimed not to be birthers offered only lukewarm dismissals of such claims, refusing to condemn those that questioned the location of the president's birth.

The release of Obama's birth certificate has given Americans a lot of questions to ask themselves: Why did Republicans spend so much time on a patently ludicrous accusation, even while the country was grappling with important problems, including a struggling economy, two wars, and national security, just to name a few? What does it say about a party that would conduct its business that way? And why was this president hit with this kind of an accusation? Nobody asked John McCain for his birth certificate or doubted his eligibility for the presidency, even though he was actually born outside of the continental United States (in the Panama Canal Zone). To be clear, I am not challenging McCain's eligibility. It would be ludicrous to do so because he was legally qualified to run. I am only pointing out that McCain didn't have to endure this kind of scrutiny about his place of birth. Why do you think that is?

Bonus Lie: President Obama is a socialist trying to nationalize industries, as evidenced by the automobile bailout. When, shortly after taking office, Obama decided to bail out Chrysler and General Motors to avoid two million lost jobs at a time when the country was already reeling from high unemployment, he was met with criticism from Republicans. Sen. Richard Shelby, a month before Obama took office, said that attempts to help the auto companies were "only delaying their funeral." But a funny thing happened on the way to the funeral home. By 2010, with the auto makers prospering and getting ready to go public again, Obama declared the bailout a success.

And drowned out by the bigger stories of this week, GM quietly announced Thursday it has tripled its profits.

GOP claims about Obama's actions in the auto industry have been proven to be wrong.

Republicans have been portraying Obama as a socialist, someone out of the political mainstream, since he took office. But the facts show that this just another GOP lie. One third of Obama's stimulus bill was made up of tax cuts, he extended the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, and his health care overhaul, rather than cut out the private insurers, instead handed them millions of new customers. And, of course, his 2012 budget proposal includes a five-year freeze on domestic spending and cuts to a bevy of programs that help low-income Americans and the environment.

Again, you can argue the merits of his proposals, but the Republican lies about Obama's ideological position have been exposed. And the news of GM prospering is just the latest example of Republicans mischaracterizing the president. He never intended to nationalize the industry.

In any event, at a time when the country faces important decisions to make and short- and long-term problems to address, no real effort is being made to come up with solutions, and no real debate is taking place, mainly because Republicans are too busy doing whatever they can to politically destroy the president, often by making false claims about him. But the events of the last two weeks have highlighted the strategy, revealing so many GOP assertions as being straight-out wrong.

I have no hope that the Republicans will change how they operate. But I do hope the American people have taken notice and will react accordingly.

 

ALEC Rock

The brilliant Putlizer-prize winning cartoonist, Mark Fiore, does it again with another cartoon video skewering the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Briton: Romney a bigger moron than Sarah Palin

The British opinion of Romney has gone from he might be another Bush to oh my God, he makes Sarah Palin seem prepared.

The British reaction to Mitt Romney has gone from openness, to skepticism, to mocking, to concluding that Mitt Romney is worse than Sarah Palin.

Daily Mail Political Editor James Chapman has been providing the world a play by play of Romney’s British implosion via his Twitter account. Romney started things off by criticizing London’s preparedness for the Olympics. He then forgot the name of British Labour Leader Ed Miliband, and then he admitted that he had been given a secret briefing by MI6. This led the British to ask aloud if they have another George W. Bush on their hands, “Romney blunders again by revealing he’s had (supposedly) top secret briefing by John Sawers, MI6 boss. Do we have a new Dubya on our hands?”

After his visit to Whitehall, Chapman offered two of the kinder reviews of Mitt Romney, “Serious dismay in Whitehall at Romney debut. ‘Worse than Sarah Palin.’ ‘Total car crash’. Two of the kinder verdicts.” Chapman also reported another verdict from British meet and greet with Mitt, “Another verdict from one Romney meeting: ‘Apparently devoid of charm, warmth, humour or sincerity’”

Getting compared to Sarah Palin is one thing, but being called worse than Palin is an indication of the epic display of fail that Romney is putting on in London.

If you thought things couldn’t possibly get worse for Mitt Romney, you were wrong. How does one top being unfavorably compared to Sarah Palin? If you’re Mitt Romney, you get mocked in front of 60,000 people.

The Telegraph is reporting that London Mayor Boris Johnson mocked Romney’s readiness comment, “Quite a moment from the Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Shortly after Rix had lit the flame he really went for it in Hyde Park. He referenced Mitt Romney’s ‘London isn’t ready’ quip and shot back in style. “Are we ready?” he called and the crowd went wild. There may even have been a hint of the Obama-friendly “Yes we can!” in there – he may have jumped into a winning scenario but I’ve not heard a politician get that reaction before.”

For their part, the White House rubbed salt in Romney’s wounds by pointing out that President Obama has full confidence in Britain’s ability to provide a secure Olympics. White House Spokesman Jay Carney said, “In keeping with our special relationship, the president also made it clear that he has the utmost confidence in our close friend and ally, the United Kingdom, as they finalize preparations to host the London Olympics.”

That special relationship is being put in jeopardy by a Republican nominee who can’t stop insulting the British people while making an ass out of himself. Instead of proving that he is Commander in Chief material, Romney is justifying John McCain’s 2008 selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate. To think, that the Romney campaign actually agreed to foreign policy being the the topic of the third presidential debate.

UPDATE:

Entire premise of Romney’s foreign trip collapses.

Sheldon Adelson, GOP Mega-Donor, Investigated For Bribery

Sheldon Adelson, GOP Mega-Donor, Investigated for Bribing Chinese Government Officials Sheldon Adelson, Las Vegas casino magnate and GOP mega-donor, is being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department under suspicions he violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) while dealing with the Chinese government and his Macau casino ventures. The FCPA, introduced in 1977 by U.S. Senator William Proxmire (D-WI), prohibits American companies from bribing foreign government officials. READ MORE......

Update on ALEC

AT&T could benefit from ALEC model legislation making its way through theCalifornia legislature. The bill, if it becomes law, would amount to pulling “out the rug on any rules to protect consumers” of phone services.

The company also reportedly teamed up with ALEC to push legislation in South Carolina that “effectively makes it difficult, if not impossible” for local governments to create publicly owned, free wi-fi networks.

As we mentioned to you in the last Origami, ALEC will be holding its annual convention in Salt Lake City this week. We know that AT&T is already sponsoring“Missouri Night,” but we have no word about what other state “nights” the corporation is helping to pay for. Want to place a bet that California and South Carolina are on the list?

At www.alecexposed.org, you will be able to find the other companies affiliated with ALEC as of 2011 and the corporations that have recently cut ties with the “shadowy corporate front group”.

Did Rush Limbaugh Incite The Murder of 14 Innocent Americans

well, the right wing seems to think so:

WMD " Weapons Of Mass Distraction" The only ones writing about the under educated under informed drug addled pedophile, on am radio, is the right wing, trying to cover his murderous a$$

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/20/rush-limbaugh-batman-and-the-colorado-shooting/

 
More............. on the shooting from CBS

It was the worst mass shooting in the United States since 32 people were killed on the Virginia Tech campus in 2007. It was the worst in Colorado since the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999. Students Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, opened fire at the school in the Denver suburb of Littleton, about 15 miles west of Aurora, killing 12 classmates and a teacher and wounding 26 others before killing themselves in the school's library.

The shooting occurred in Theater 9, which has a capacity of around 300 people, according to KCNC.

Victims were rushed to six area hospitals. Sixteen of the wounded were listed in critical condition, reports CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen. The youngest reported victim is a 3-month-old, who was treated and released from University Hospital. Another victim is a six-year-old being treated at Children's Hospital, where a total of six victims were taken. Their condition wasn't known.

Victims were being treated for chemical exposure apparently related to canisters thrown by the gunman.

Police had earlier reported 14 deaths, but later said that only 12 fatalities were confirmed.

An amateur video posted to Youtube (scroll down to see) showed people walking around outside the theater, allegedly in the moments after the incident. One man was seen wearing a shirt that appeared to be bloodstained. He was being led by a police officer. Some people could be heard shouting.

Corbin Dates told CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen he saw a man take a phone call by the emergency exit and possibly try to signal or look for somebody during the movie's opening credits. After the movie started, the emergency exit door swung open.

"Somebody walks in dressed all in black, helmet, gas mask, black outfit, you cannot see anything but the person's eyes," said Dates, "and there was a gas can that was thrown into the audience behind me. It went off. I thought it was a stunt of the movie, so I didn't think anything serious of it once it went off."

When gunshots went off, Dates and his friend dropped to the floor and started to crawl through the theater, he said.

"I felt the caps from the bullets burn my leg," Dates said.

William Kent, who was in an adjacent theater, said bullets came through the wall but with the action on screen, people didn't realize what was happening.

"And they started the fire alarm or the emergency alarm, said that there had been something that happened in the building and evacuated everybody. There was a huge commotion to get out of the theater. When I exited, there were police officers with assault rifles running in," Kent told CBS News.

Benjamin Fernandez, who was also in an adjacent theater, said he saw a young girl, around 12 or 13 years old, lying on the concrete when he exited the building.

"From what I saw, she had two bullet wounds in her leg and just blood all over her stomach. Her friends were all just yelling, crying. ... We were just all pretty much in shock," he said on "CBS This Morning."

The police said 10 victims died at the theater and two at area hospitals.

Aurora is located on the southeast outskirts of Denver, about 10 miles from downtown.

President Barack Obama addressed the shooting from Fort Myers, Florida, calling for a moment of silence.

"There are going to be other days for politics," Mr. Obama said. "This, I think, is a day for prayer and reflection."

The president thanked the gathered crowd and told them he was grateful for their support.

"I was looking forward to having a fun conversation with you about some really important matters we face as a country ... the differences between myself and my opponent in this election," he said. "But this morning we woke up to news of a tragedy that reminds us of all the ways we are united as one American family."

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney also planned to address the shooting. In a statement, he said that he and his wife, Ann, were "deeply saddened by the news of the senseless violence" that led to the loss of life and injuries. He said they were praying for the families and loved ones of the victims "during this time of deep shock and immense grief. We expect that the person responsible for this terrible crime will be quickly brought to justice."

Warner Bros., which produced "The Dark Knight Rises" said the company was "deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. We extend our sincere sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims at this tragic time."

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

'You're So Bain'

Roger Chiocchi has been creating politically-oriented YouTube videos for the past three years as a "hobby," but it wasn't until last Friday that one of his creations, "You're So Bain," caught on fire online. The video, a four-and-a-half minute critique of Mitt Romney's wealth and his tenure at Bain, sets Chiocchi's scathing lyrics to Carly Simon's 1972 hit "You're So Vain" and uses Jib Jab-style caricatures and photos to make its point. Read more

Election Protection 2012

In case you missed it, 866OurVote.Org unveiled a fresh, new look last week! Election Protection is working 365 days to advance and defend your right to vote. The refreshed website features tools and resources to educate you about your right to vote and empower you to take action to ensure your  family, friends, and neighbors are able to participate in our democracy.

Over the next few months we will be updating voting information and materials so that you will be fully prepared to vote on November 6^th. Here are some of the new and updated features of 866OurVote.Org:

• Promo Boxes: On the bottom left hand corner of the website home page you will find boxes highlighting important information and materials such as voter ID information, how to volunteer or how to register to vote. These boxes will change throughout the election cycle to feature new resources and tools as well as important election related information.
• Issues Tab: Formerly known as Elections 101 on the old website, the issues section contain information on important election-related topics such as provisional balloting, early & absentee voting, deceptive election practices and overseas voting, so you can be fully informed on your voting rights.
• The Latest News: We want to make sure you are up-to-date on the latest breaking voting news and this section will feature news articles, press releases and updates on Election Protection’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
• State Pages: The website still features a map of the United States where you can click on your state to find more specific voting information, but the state pages also got a new look. Now there are drop-down screens that expand to give more information on where to vote, how to vote, what ID is required (if any), and other vital information. Click on the arrows next to the headings to view the expanded information.

Not only is the 866OurVote.Org a resource for voters but also Election Protection Coalition partners and an opportunity to feature the great work organizations across the country is doing to protect the fundamental right to vote.

Given the recent changes to election laws in several states, Election Protection is need now more than ever to ensure that every eligible voter can cast a ballot in November. Check out 866OurVote.Org and stay tuned for new updates and features.

 

Why Mitt Romney won't release his tax returns

1. Romney's income might have been extremely high
Romney earned $21.7 million in 2010 and $20.9 million in 2011, says John Cassidy at The New Yorker. That's a lot of money, "but Romney may well have earned considerably more in earlier years." In fact, Romney's 10-year severance agreement with Bain Capital ended in 2009, so going back just one more year might tell a lot about how the mysterious deal "allowed Romney to keep pocketing a substantial portion of the firm's profits. And the years before 2008 were massively successful ones for Bain and other private-equity firms."

2. His tax rate might have been close to zero
Romney might have done "something that was kind of shady — not in an illegal sense," to bring his tax rate way down, Martin Sullivan of Tax Analysts tells Agence France Presse. Since Romney's income in the return he has already released from 2010 came from investments, not income, it was taxed at 15 percent, less than half what he would have paid for the same income in a paycheck. Let's say he got his effective tax rate to five percent or even to zero. "That would be damning," as it would reinforce Team Obama's efforts to portray Romney as rich and "out of touch."

3. Romney might actually have something to hide
As conservative commentator George Will and others have pointed out, Romney knows withholding his returns is hurting his campaign, says Daniel Shaviro at Start Making Sense, so it's logical to assume whatever is in the returns is worse. Remember all the talk about Romney's Swiss bank account? "There was an IRS amnesty program in 2009 for fraudulent nondisclosure of offshore income." If Romney came clean that year, "this might be embarrassing." One thing we do know: Romney's 2010 return showed a net capital loss carryforward from 2009, the year when his last windfall of deferred interest came from his "retroactive retirement" from Bain. This suggests Romney might have done some "extremely aggressive tax sheltering" in 2009 that voters might frown on.

4. Each return provides a reminder of Romney's Mormonism
Romney's tax returns "reveal the extent of his tithing to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," says Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway. His 2010 return, for example, showed that he had given roughly $4.1 million to the LDS Church, all of it tax deductible. Letting the public see year after year of records would "emphasize Romney's Mormon ties at a time the campaign might not want to do so." 

5. Romney is just being arrogant
"There is nothing in those tax returns that is in any way illegal," says Charles P. Pierce at Esquire. Romney's high income and low tax rate won't tell us anything we don't know already. It's no secret that "our tax code — and, indeed, our entire economic system — has been gamed to benefit the folks in Romney's economic stratum." Romney merely has contempt for a process that requires someone of his wealth and privilege to show deference to people who have neither. "The Help" — that's the rest of us — "has no right to go pawing through the family books."

6. He won't give in to attempts to divert attention from Obama
There's a perfectly good reason for Romney to refuse to release his tax returns, says Bob Webster atWEBCommentary: They "are none of anyone's business." The U.S. tax code is a mess, and "antagonistic lawyers" could pick apart the personal returns of anyone at Romney's income level. It would be "insane" for Romney to give in. "The whole non-issue is designed to be part of a smokescreen to cover up the gross ineptitude" of President Obama during his four disastrous years in office.

Read more political coverage at The Week's 2012 Election Center.

SEE MORE: When Mitt Romney retired from Bain: 4 reasons why it matters

Paid Right Wing Bloggers Posting on Liberal Websites

UPDATE MAY 2016

An Internet troll who claims to have found deep divisions among factions of the Left on

Koch Bros & Heritage Foundation Troll

Twitter laid out a plan Saturday for fellow Donald Trump supporters to exploit those fissures.

Posting on the sometimes-dubious message board 4chan, the anonymous poster wrote a post entitled, “Let’s troll Bernie and Hillary supporters systematically,” where the writer says he/she posed as a Democratic voter and trolled supporters of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in an effort to deepen divisions and help Trump secure a victory in November.

“We need to take advantage of this. This is Trump’s gift,” the 4chan troll wrote. “If we’re serious about a Trump presidency we need to start infiltrating their conversations in order to sow more divison (sic). I’m talking systematic and long-term /mischief/, not just a hew minutes trolling dumbass SJW’s. Look at the chaos and damage I was able to make yesterday, just one person, with no real rudeness in my replies. Imagine that writ large: My account is @realJohnMilIer.”

“SJW” stands for “social justice warrior.”

The Twitter account for “real John Miller” indeed seems to show activity celebrating divisions among Clinton and Sanders supporters.

John J. Miller ‎@realJohnMilIer

A hashtag to get Bernvictims to try to turn the Philly DNC convention into their own Boston Tea Party - using revolution imagery.

11:40 AM - 21 May 2016

 
•  11 Retweet
 
•  likes

John J. Miller ‎@realJohnMilIer

These morons are using Trump's nickname for her and don't see how that helps him. @ScottAdamsSays 3D-pilled me more than anyone in 2015.

11:12 AM - 21 May 2016

 
•  Retweets
 
•  likes

“John Miller” is the alter-ego that Trump has been accused of bizarrely impersonating with reporters in the past. The 4chan user suggests fellow Trump supporters do three things:

1.If hundreds of accounts on the Hillary or Bernie/Stein side were saying even worse things it’d make the divisions deeper. 2.If we got people to agree with us the opposing sides would blast each other as dangerous extremists but each would defend horrible tweets. 3. Even if a few or a lot of us were caught, it would increase distrust tremendously among ANYONE on the opposing side.

The user then says he/she was amazed to see the vitriol on the Left.

“It’s amazing to see them using their SJW tactics against each other, and having to defend themselves from their own tactics,” the user wrote. “They don’t know how to respond so they just spew more blind hatred and vitriol. They fighting with each other like they’re fighting white nationalists. It’s bizarre. It’s not just virtue-signalling, it’s blind hatred and panic. I encourage everyone to read the vitriol about the Matt Bruenig firing.”

Bruenig was a blogger for the progressive think tank Demos, and was fired for calling a Clinton supporter a “scumbag,” Politico reports.

The user then started brainstorming Twitter hashtags to ignite fury among factions on the Left, like #BloodOnHillarysHands and #HillaryKillsPOC. In the discussion that followed, 4chan users tried to conceive schemes to get Sanders to run on a third-party ticket against Clinton in order to defeat them both.

“[Green Party candidate Jill] Stein said she will offer Bernie the VP slot if he wants it. He said months ago he would support the nominee but this week MSNBC hinted he was looking for an excuse or reason to not do so, but in a way that gives him plausible deniability,” one user wrote. “Green party has no chance to win, they’re only on like 30 state ballots, but it would cause a shitstorm. #SteinSanders and #SteinSanders2016 could be a great goal, but I think first we should focus on deepening the divide.”  

Screenshots of conversation can be viewed by clicking on the photos below:

    

Source: RawStory.com


UPDATE MAY 2015

The Right Baits the Left to Turn Against Hillary Clinton

CLICK HERE

Ignorant, peevish, narrow-minded, misinformed, livid, intolerant, they are an army of everything that's wrong with America, denizens of a weird trickster God who speaks to them with words they don't completely understand, or tints their natural interior wrath with righteous anger conferred by snake-oil preachers or haughty cable charlatans either crass or crazed, or just slyly in it for the money, or all of the above.  

This minority wouldn't matter much except they are whipped into a frenzy and 'played' by cynical manipulators like Frank Luntz, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck who, in turn, wouldn't have much impact without the billions of dollars spent to spread their fetid message from such right-wing corporatists as Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers.

But beneath the second-tier video fictions of James O’Keefe and Andrew Breitbart, and the hollow-headed bleating of the various ozone-inhabiting creatures who will never be president like Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin, and even in the shadow of the disingenuous theocratic mushpile that is David Barton’s twisted view of our history, exists a well-funded Republican netherworld of PR propagandists and marketing hucksters busy dreaming up unethical new ways to undercut Obama and the Democrats.

One of these is Doug Goetzloe, an anti-tax right-wing talk show host and former Young Republican who heads up Advantage Consultants. Here is the copy from one of his ads advising his conservative clients to ‘flood the zone’ on progressive sites:

“Are you ready for a blog attack?

“Get ahead of your opponent with Professional Blog Warriors.

“Be prepared to ‘flood the zone’ with comments from professionals who are ready to put your talking points on the blogosphere 24/7.

“Whether it's defense or offense, Advantage Consultants has a dedicated team of experienced blog warriors ready to advance your candidate or campaign.

“Why wait for the attack? Launch your attack with a battery of blog and forum comments aimed at all media and blog sites in your district.

“Contact us today and let us show you the Advantage in professional blog warfare.”
-- See the Advantage Consultants ad at:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6266805

Then there’s Chip Griffin, head of the now defunct NetVocates that planted comments as Advantage Consultants does back in 2005, and still a Republican activist and PR man who was once associated with the far-right TownHall.com. Griffin is no doubt back on the scene as a sock-puppet master for the 2012 elections -- it’s what he does for a living.

A poster named TomCADem recently made these points at Democratic Underground:

“However, what is often ignored are right wing/corporate funded political operatives generating attacks on Democrats from the ‘left’ while giving Republicans a free pass. Of course, these operatives do not announce their intentions, but instead simply launch attacks on Democrats from the left while largely ignoring the far more extreme positions of Republicans or suggesting that there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans. However, occasionally, such operatives are caught engaging in these fraudulent acts.

“The question in 2012 with Republicans and corporate American intent on taking back the White House, killing unions, and privatizing Medicare, [is] how far will Republicans and corporate propaganda groups go in their efforts to organize sock puppet attacks on Democrats from the left in order to undermine support for Democrats among liberals?”
-- Posted in “‘Liberal’ Sock Puppets – Right Wing/Corporate Operatives Attacking Democrats From The ‘Left’,” April 26, 2011.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x967422

How far? The GOP is desperate to enact their anti-democratic corporate agenda as quickly as possible as they know the general public is catching onto them -- they will go as far as mountains of corporate money and a total lack of conscience or ethics will take them.

Some on the progressive side are already well aware that the GOP is, and has been at least since 2005, mounting a large and well-funded campaign to plant phony 'progressives sick of the Dems' comments on various liberal sites to split the vote. Their masters know the psychology well: a percentage of the population, no matter what their politics, is 'suggestible,' meaning if they read a string of comments excoriating ALL Democrats as frauds and liars, that will become their opinion, if nothing to the contrary is offered. These 'suggestibles' are not necessarily stupid, but they do readily conform to whatever opinion is dominant. That's why the GOP, through their paid operatives, flood progressive sites with so-called 'former Democrats' and 'angry progressives' who do nothing but harp on how horrible the Democrats and Obama are. It's insidious and underhanded, but look at who's doing it -- the party of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. All of them were elected on a promise of jobs and better times, only to use their office to reward the wealthy with tax cuts and lucrative contracts privatizing public services at the expense of middle-class families who work for a living.

At one time, some of the 'tells' of the right-wing ‘sock puppet’ troll was their use of terms such as 'DemoRATS' or ‘Demonrats’ for Democrats, and their repeatedly calling Obama 'Obummer,' 'Obomber' or 'Obomba.' But they've mostly changed that language as actual progressives began to notice those repeated constructions and the fetid and simpleminded opinions attached to them. Some current 'tells' are when they don't mention the GOP at all, or claim both parties are just as 'evil,' or try to shut down the conversation with insults, or push readers to vote for any third party, or say that they'd rather vote for a Republican than a Democrat, or make statements with no factual basis, or refer you to a right-wing website to ‘confirm’ their assertions.

Incidentally, there is no comparable effort by the left: if you try to post comments opposing the GOP or corporatists at right-wing sites, in most cases you will quickly be banned from posting there and your comments removed. They aren't about to let the other side play their game on them, even if we had the money to fund such slimy baloney and the inclination to do so.

Our only protection against such ersatz assaults is to use our heads and common sense: if someone is a little ‘too’ enraged at Obama and the Democrats, be suspicious, especially if they never talk about Republicans. Ask them a couple of polite intelligent questions on the comment thread’s topic; if they respond by condemning or insulting you for questioning them rather than engaging you, they’re likely a sock-puppet troll; it’s in their nature to consider any question or disagreement as tantamount to treason. Also, if they keep reposting basically the same idea in one comment thread, they’re probably a sock-puppet troll; they’ve been instructed by their masters that repetition works. And don’t be swayed if they accuse you of being a ‘shill’ or ‘troll’ for questioning them -- they are trained to do that.

Finally, always remember: you can pretend to be a progressive, but you can’t pretend to be smart, and these paid ‘blog warriors’ decidedly aren’t.

"The key point is that ever since the Reagan years, the Republican Party has been dominated by radicals - ideologues and/or apparatchiks who, at a fundamental level, do not accept anyone else’s right to govern."
-- Paul Krugman, "The Politics of Spite," NY Times, Oct. 5, 2009.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/opinion/05krugman.html?_r=1

source:  http://readersupportednews.org
© 2011 RS Janes.