The Fold Blog: Making history, for all the wrong reasons

Honoring the Memories

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:53:00 +0000

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend. This blog will be silent.

Senate Votes To Remove Reference To Tea Party From Federal Law, House Promises Fight

noreply@blogger.com (Mike) — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:10:00 +0000

Contributed by Michael Matthew Bloomer while reporting as Michael Matthew Bloomer.

On Wednesday this week, by unanimous consent, the United States Senate infuriated the House Tea Party Caucus by passing S. 2367 which, if approved by the House and then enthusiastically signed by President Obama, would remove the term "lunatic" from several provisions of federal law. The entire House GOP delegation moved to what House Majority Leader Eric Cantor called "a wartime footing" to fight against S.2367's passage in the House. Of course, no group was more outspoken than the Tea Party Caucus, which views itself as singled out for special maltreatment. About the Senate bill, erstwhile presidential candidate and Tea party Caucus Chairwoman Michele Bachmann had this to say:

"This wrongheaded Senate bill would remove the word from the United States statutes that to the American people most represents the guiding philosophy of the Tea Party. Trying to remove this word from our law code represents typical Democrat controlled Senate business-as-usualness at its most. This discriminatory action by the Democrat Senate would strip Tea Party supporters throughout this land of official recognition in United States law. The 60 members of the Tea Party Caucus will band together to fight passage of this discriminatory. We have Speaker Boehner's guarantee that no legislation will reach the House floor until S. 2367 is brought up for a vote and defeated. We will not be treaded on."

Sobbing with emotion and shaking with rage, Speaker John Boehner added,

"To remove this term synonymous with the Tea Party from the official United States statutory lexicon would be akin to removing all references to George Washington as Father of our country from school textbooks. We will not rest until we return the word 'lunatic' to its rightful and well-earned place in our nation's legal code."

On the other side of the aisle, House Democrats vowed to fight on behalf of S.2367. House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland spoke for his delegation,

"We simply think it wrong that the Tea Party be provided what amounts to free publicity at taxpayers' expense through the inclusion of the word 'lunatic' in the laws of the United States. In the public's mind, the term is as inseparable from Tea Party identity as is 'carnival barker' to Donald Trump's identity. One, however, does not find the term 'carnival barker' in the United States Code. The same ought be true for 'lunatic.' The Democratic party will remain disciplined and steadfast in its support of the passage of S.2367 when it reaches the floor next week."

So, once again it looks like more gridlock is in store. It is likely that, if voting along party lines prevails, the House will kill S.2367. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, however, promised to include the text of the bill in "every single piece of legislation that leaves the Senate for the House" until success is achieved. That may make for a very long, hot Summer. . . Senator Reid, however, had the last word, "I don't give a damn."

It's the Spending Binge That Never Happened, Stupid

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:44:00 +0000

President Obama has NOT issued in a new era of unbridled spending that is causing our current trillion dollar deficits. Plain and simple.

The deficits come from a number of different areas but none larger than the Bush Recession, the Bush Tax Cuts and the Bush Endless War Program.

In the spirit of Mitt Romney, The Fold Blog is taking a lot of credit for bringing to the national forefront the GOP lie that Obama is on a spending binge and is the cause of our current deficits. We have endlessly refuted Republican talking points on Obama's spending since January 20, 2009. More recently, we have engaged head on any notion that Obama is a fiscally irresponsible menace continuously growing government who needs to be stopped. You're welcome, America.

Anyone who says Obama's spending must be stopped, that it must be put under control, that it must be CUT, that it is unprecedented, that it must be reversed is lying. They are simply playing politics and trying to pass the blame from the last administration, whom the American people overwhelmingly voted out of office, onto President Obama.

Comments Again

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:35:00 +0000

Still having trouble with the new Disqus commenting. Imagine that.

Comments, again, appear to be showing up and then disappearing at will. We'll give Disqus some time to work out the bugs but we won't wait forever.

It's Not a Vetting Obsession, It's an Alternate Reality Obsession

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:18:00 +0000

Paul Waldman has an excellent rundown of Republican obsession with making sure President Obama gets vetted this time around. "Yet even at this late date, conservatives are still hoping that within Obama's past lies a blockbuster secret that will change everything once it is revealed, even if it's not so secret or not so new, " writes Waldman.

Vetting is absolutely the wrong word here. Republicans don't want Obama vetted. They want their alternative reality to go mainstream. As Waldman notes there have been thousands of news article about the young man Obama. There have been numerous books including two written by Obama himself about his youth and his upbringing. None of this, however, is acceptable to Republicans. Why? Because they discredit everything and anything that doesn't coincide with the false narrative they have created about the president.

That false narrative goes something like this. He's a Muslim that was born in Kenya to an unmarried black Muslim father and an atheist mother. From there his mother and father split up where he went with his mom to live in Indonesia with her new Muslim boyfriend. While there he attended a madrassa and learned violent extremist Muslim ideology that still guides him to this day. After his loose mother got pregnant again and broke up with the Indonesian Muslim, she moved her two kids to Hawaii where his white grandparents consulted with their domestic terrorist friends (probably Bill Ayres) to conspire with the local media to have their black grandson documented as a legal citizen so he could later become President of the United States and wage religious war against his adopted Christian nation. It all makes perfect sense. This is what they believe!! It's what they think the media is covering up. The is the TRUTH they demand be told.

It's not vetting they want. They want him legally proven to be disqualified as president. In their eyes, anything short of that is not going to be a proper vetting.

Government is Shrinking

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:18:00 +0000

Gasp!:

FOR the first time in 40 years, the government sector of the American economy has shrunk during the first three years of a presidential administration.

You have to be kidding right? After all President Obama is a socialistcommienazi whose only desire is to grow government so big that he eventually is crowned emperor. Right? Well, yeah if you watch Fox News than yes that is your world.

However, if you are a proud member of the Reality Based Community, then you would easily realize that the size of government has actually shrunk under Obama. But don't stop there. Not only has government shrunk, so has spending, taxes and the budget deficit.

Quickies

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:01:00 +0000

The Republican-controlled House passed the latest NDAA with yet another round of indefinite detention. If you're like me, you're more worried about the "forever war" clause contained in the NDAA than about indefinite detention. Notwithstanding, it's worth pointing out the Small Government Conservatives not only, once more, passed indefinite detention they killed off an amendment that would have blocked the detention of U.S. citizens.

Probably the best part about the indefinite detention saga is how 2012 is the new 2004. In arguing against the amendment that would have blocked citizens from being held without charges, Republicans used their familiar 2004 tough guy talk accusing anyone who didn't support their policy as being terrorist sympathizers. Yep, it's all about who has the bigger penis. Writes Adam Serwer: "Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) accused the lawmakers of wanting to "coddle terrorists," while Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.) warned that under an amendment they'd introduced, "as soon as a member of Al Qaeda sets foot on US soil, they hear you have the right to remain silent." National Review's Andrew C. McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor who has never heard of a same-sex marriage supporting, pro-financial regulation liberal who wasn't secretly a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, wrote that their proposal was the result of "libertarian extremists" teaming up with liberals with an "obsession" with giving "more rights" to "mass murderers."

A top Republican says if you try to prevent billionaires from moving their money to foreign accounts in order to avoid American taxes you're a Nazi. In other words, you're an enemy of the state. No better than the terrorists.

What do you call a budget that adds $10 trillion of new debt in ten years? If you're Republican, you claim it's a budget that prevents a debt crisis.

The brilliant Sarah Palin does a robocall in Kansas to support a tea bagger running in Texas. Brilliant! They really do think she's smart though.

U.S. Landed on Moon Because of Joe Biden

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:10:00 +0000

Hey if Romney can take credit for bailing out the auto industry and still be a serious contender for president, Joe Biden ain't gonna be outdone.

More On Comments

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:49:00 +0000

Be patient with the comment system. It seems comments are disappearing and reappearing at will. Not what we were hoping for.

Commenting Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:32:00 +0000

The Fold Blog has been invited to upgrade to the new Disqus 2012 commenting system. Disqus 2012 is a major update to the Disqus commenting platform. We're looking forward to its benefits.

As best as I can tell, we've been using Disqus for 3 years. We've had our ups and downs with it but overall I am very happy with its performance. One of our main reasons for sticking with Disqus was its ability to customize. Because of this, we tried to make our commenting system look a little different than what you would see on other sites utilizing the same platform. It might not have been a night and day experience but there were some differences.

As it turns out, the new Disqus 2012 does not allow customization. I think I'm okay with that for the time being. I'm willing to give it a chance to see how much better the new integration will be. The new system, in our view, has three new features that surpass the ability to customize: 1) Total SEO Compatibility, 2) Frictionless realtime, and 3) more user driven and traffic oriented.

If you notice any kinks or have any complaints please let us know. Our next phase, if the new Disqus doesn't work out is to move to IntenseDebate. We've been researching it and are quite interested, in addition to hearing lots of good feedback about it. For now, however, Disqus 2012 is our choice. We hope to stay. As always, our comment policy can be found here. Email to our founding editor is chris@thefoldblog.com. Comments, outreach and networking are always welcomed.

A Fact Republicans Will Never Admit, Will Never Acknowledge and Will Go Out of Their Way to Cover Up

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:16:00 +0000

Taxes, federal spending, and the budget deficit are all lower today than when Barack Obama took office.

Yes, that's right. Obama has shrunk spending, cut taxes and lowered the deficit. This goes against the Republican narrative, however. It's something they will deny until the day the world explodes. They have spent the better part of three years creating a fantasy world where Obama created the fiscal mess we are in today and that what he inherited from George Bush was nothing that couldn't be fixed within a week of taking office.

*Update:

As a comparison, let's see what George W. Bush, the greatest president ever, who was a staunch fiscal conservative, did in 3 years time.

Sources are all from http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1950_2015USp_G0f

Oh no way. This can't be true. George Bush and the Republicans increased federal spending, cut taxes and took a budget surplus to a deficit 4% of GDP?????

Yep. That's their legacy. The guy who has actually shrunk spending, cut taxes and lowered the budget deficit is the Big Government, Tax and Spend Liberal trying to bankrupt the nation. The people that created this mess are never to be spoken of again, unless we refer to them as Very Serious People who are Staunch Deficit Hawks that need to be listened to very carefully.

When It Comes To Debt, Punish the Hostages

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:33:00 +0000

This goes right along with an ongoing conversation we've been having here on The Fold, and one I assume will play large in the election- debts and deficits.

The argument seems to have a few different strands. One is Republicans deny any responsibility for today's massive budget deficits and think everything was fine until 2009 (i.e., inheritance is meaningless). Or they acknowledge some guilt in driving up the deficit but think it all should be fixed by now and would be if Obama would quit with his massive spending binges and start CUTTING. Their third route is a combination of the two but with a slightly more optic edge that thinks we can somehow cut taxes even more for the wealthy, then cut spending on social programs and raise spending on defense by another trillion dollars and come out with a balanced budget.

The facts of the matter are simple. The budget mess we have currently didn't happen over night. It is a result of almost a full decade of misplaced fiscal responsibility. It's also a result of a near full decade of chronic budget deficits brought about by tax cuts that were not offset, very expensive policies that were not paid for and a massive economic downturn not seen since the 1930s. That's a lethal combination for any economy. It is what happened, however. And pretending like we can get out of this in a short period of time is crazy.

I really do love TPM's graphs!!

But certainly what we don't need right now is finger pointing. Because if we do that we see the people who are crying the loudest right now about spending and debt are the very ones who share the biggest burden of blame for the situation in the first place. No sense in doing that. It's better we don't blame the hostage takers. Makes more sense to punish the hostages.

As Long As We Don't Put Any Thought Into It, the GOP is Right

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:02:00 +0000

Never mind that an overwhelming majority of the federal debt comes from Reagan and the two Bush presidents. Never mind that the two presidents who increased spending more than anyone since WWII are Reagan and George W. Bush. Never mind that Congress raised the debt ceiling for them a combined 37 times. Never mind that it was George W. Bush that turned over to President Obama a near $1.5 trillion deficit, two ongoing wars, an economy losing almost a million jobs a month, a Dow in complete and utter free fall, who never once while in power passed a single bill that was paid for. Never mind any of that. Because now that it has been 3 years and 4 months since Republicans were in power, it all should be fixed by now.

Rhode Island Gets Gayer

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:09:00 +0000

Former Republican who was pretty much booted from his party in 2010 and is now the Governor of RI issued an executive order declaring his state will recognize same sex marriages performed outside of the state. Definitely not something he could have done as a GOP governor.

With Jesus Not in the Race, Romney Will Have To Do

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:54:00 +0000

Man of God Pat Robertson told his millions of viewers that without Jesus being in the race, Mitt Romney was their only hope.

“The question is if you have two candidates, you don’t have Jesus running against somebody else. You have Obama running against Romney.”

There was never any chance the Christian Right wackos were going to vote for Obama in the first place. I'm actually proud of the fact that the same guy I vote for is loathed by the wing nut crusaders. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing the guy I voted for was only allowed to believe the earth is but 6,000 years old.

Teh Revolution Ain't Over

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:26:00 +0000

Ron Paul will end his latest campaign for the presidency much like his previous two, packing it up while claiming victory for the movement.

“We will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted,” Paul wrote in an e-mail to supporters Monday. “Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have. I encourage all supporters of Liberty to make sure you get to the polls and make your voices heard, particularly in the local, state, and Congressional elections, where so many defenders of Freedom are fighting and need your support.”

Freedom and Liberty, just so long as you vote for us.

Quickies

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:15:00 +0000

Longtime Republican "opinion writer" John Derbyshire, who was fired last month from the Republican periodical National Journal for racist articles, wrote yet another racist article listing White Supremacy as one of the "better arrangements of history" for running government. Totally crazy.

Republican Rep James Lankford of Oklahoma said he believes someone should be able to be fired from their job if they are gay because it is a behavior-based issue.

Republican Rand Paul: "I didn't think views on marriage could get any gayer," when talking about Obama's recent vocal support for gay marriage.

When Republicans say they wanted presidential candidates vetted they really mean they want Barack Obama declared ineligible to be president.

The day MSNBC's Chris Matthews did his job.

Monday Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:43:00 +0000

Ugggg...

GOP Group Calling for Violent Overthrow Backs Down

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:37:00 +0000

Greene County, VA GOP denounces its previous call for armed rebellion if Obama is reelected by issuing a statement and wiping clean its website of any mention of the violent rhetoric. That's good news, even if they are trying to white wash their history. Still no word yet on the GOP group who joyfully called for someone to kill Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

Two ridiculous calls for armed violence and death in less than four days from the GOP and nary a whimper about it on the news. Couldn't imagine the same happening from the president's opposition in 2004.

Yes He Spent Like a Drunken Sailor

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:32:00 +0000

Bush sympathizer writes:

"Yes, if you're arguing that Bush spent money like a drunken sailor, then we should cut it back."

The truth is Bush added over $1.3 trillion of new spending to the federal budget. There's no denying it. He did it. How anyone can call that a fiscally conservative led government is smoking crack. Or how anyone can say that's not spending like a drunken sailor is quite maddening.

But Bush didn't just add over one-trillion of new spending. He slashed federal revenue too. That means he doubled spending and cut income. It doesn't take too smart of a person to figure out that's a recipe for disaster.

The point to all this isn't spending versus deficits. It's that now all of a sudden Republicans claim they are against spending. They call it socialism and Big Government takeovers. Not one time, however, when Bush was busy creating the largest deficits in history with his trillion dollar extravaganzas, did Republicans ever feel the need to cut spending. But now it's their favorite thing to call for. In fact, spending is such a threat to the nation that Obama must CUT it immediately or we face annihilation. Mentioning how spending got to where it is today, or how the deficits came about, is treason. What matters is Obama must CUT, CUT and CUT some more.

It would take a mad people to believe Republicans have any care in the world when it comes to fiscal responsibility. Listening to them would be like Jeffrey Dahmer saying we need to immediately do something about all the serial killers.

*Update:

Romney's New Spending Doubles Bush's

So how Serious are Republicans about spending cuts. So Serious that CNN Money reports Mitt Romney's budget blueprint for America will add an additional $2.1 trillion of new spending over 10 years. Yes that's right. The guy Kristen Billy is giddy to vote for will double Bush's spending spree. But isn't Billy telling us we need to CUT, CUT, CUT? Sure he is. That's because Democrats are in charge now. As soon as they're out, deficits won't matter again and spending will be Patriotic.

Bush only added $1.3 trillion over 8 years. And just like Bush, Romney's plan has no mechanism to raise any money to pay for the new spending. But don't worry, we'll be Free and Tough after we cut revenues even further and spend like there's no tomorrow.

Romney is the Republican in the race so he's naturally the fiscal conservative who will finally rein in the budget, slash deficits and shrink government, and he claims that's exactly what his budget does. Anyone who disagrees with their assertions are terrorist hippies that want to destroy the Union.

Until it's time for Romney to add $2 trillion of new spending to the budget, we must CUT, CUT, CUT.

No One Can Argue There Hasn't Been Change

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:16:00 +0000

With yesterday's historical announcement from the president, it's becoming clearer and clearer that anyone who tries to argue there hasn't been any change since 2008 really isn't paying attention.

In honor of the Hope and Change that has come to America, here is The Fold Blog's Top Ten.

bin Laden is dead thanks to President Obama's direct policy of refocusing efforts on finding and killing him.
The first and only Health Care Reform in our nation's history (an ongoing hope in America since 1948).
Successfully ended the war in Iraq and greatly helped #1 to happen.
Saved the American auto industry.
Successfully used American interventionism to remove Gaddafi (something the last 4 presidents couldn't do).
Repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell.
Ended Bush's state-sanctioned torture policies.
New Start Treaty with Russia.
Ended Bush's restrictions on Stem Cell research.
First American president to openly support gay marriage.

We could probably make a list of 20 items and still leave stuff out. However, these are the 10 issues or items that we feel have affected the most change since 2008. These are not necessarily changes from the previous administration. Some are changes many presidents tried to do but failed (health care reform, kill bin Laden, remove Gaddafi, etc...).

It's true many people can argue there hasn't been enough change but to argue there hasn't been any is ridiculous. Any president would love to have just one of the ten listed above, in less than 4 years time too. On that same note, there isn't a president since FDR you can list 10 monumental changes in their tenure that would be greater than what President Obama has done.

To say that you don't like the changes that have taken place is a totally different story. But chances are you didn't vote for Obama anyway and don't plan to this year either and would complain no matter what the guy did. Turning off your Fox News teevee set would help your world tremendously.

Viva la Change!

Pulitzer Material

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:41:00 +0000

I've just been informed The Fold Media has submitted my name to Pulitzer and I am now, just like Republican Jonah Goldberg, a Pulitzer nominated writer!!!!!

Go tell all your friends!

Same Sex Marriage, Depending on What the Meaning of the Word Is Is

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:54:00 +0000

Here's the quote I'm getting from CNN: "it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married."

Is that really an endorsement of gay marriage? I know a few specific Republicans who have numerous times told me that they have nothing against gay marriage at all. They just don't think it should be the law of the land. Isn't that nearly exactly what the president is saying here too?

Seems like this statement is just another one of these weird word games where a politician doesn't just come right out and truly say what he/she thinks. To me, Obama's newest stance seems to create more questions than answers.

The Same Mentality From the Same Region

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:35:00 +0000

It's a good thing North Carolina fixed their unemployment, their high poverty rates, their dilapidated schools and their budget deficits before they began their crusade to legislate the Bible.

"I tried to talk about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career, and nobody listened. And then I began talking about niggers, and they stomped the floor." -- George Wallace.

Just Cut Spending

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:02:00 +0000

Comedy doesn't even begin to describe Republicans who have over the last 3 years become disgusted with government spending.

While Republicans ruled government and controlled almost entirely all the purse strings, spending rose at historical rates.

The chart above easily demonstrates just how much Republicans loved spending when they were in power. They increased it by at least 108% in 8 short years. The largest increase since WWII.

One would think that people who so despised Big Government and wasteful spending would, when given ample opportunity, cut spending the first chance they got. You would be wrong, dead wrong.

What Republicans do is merely talk about other people spending money. When they spend it, it's perfectly fine. They spend money to make America free and increase our greatness. Everyone else spends money to destroy America and institute a socialist takeover.

Now that we are enthralled in an economic crisis, which they didn't even admit existed until Jan. 2009, spending is a huge problem that should be stopped and could be easily accomplished if only Obama would do the fiscally responsible thing and CUT spending immediately. Never mind where the Big Spending came from. It's up to Obama to stop it now. If he doesn't he's fiscally insane and should be tried for treason.