Fear

Yesterday morning on the Jamie Allman radio program, Roy Blunt emphasized his mosque-bashing bona fides by repeatedly mentioning that he contacted New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg "well over a month ago" asking him to shut down the Park51 project, because, well, just because. Listen:

Blunt even tweeted about his early concern with the project sponsors' constitutional freedoms last week. 

Way to be out front on this issue, Roy.  Just be sure to let us know when you go back to praising yourself for being a constitutional conservative.

Absolutely disgusting stuff from KJSL radio personality and GOP activist Gina Loudon.

Rancor among religions is one thing, but the questions surrounding the proposed mosque at Ground Zero are an entirely different sort of attack.

The land surrounding Ground Zero is a war memorial. The proposal of an Islamic mosque there is synonymous with a Nazi war memorial in downtown London. How would the world react to that proposal? Wouldn’t Western Europe just about leap off the map if that were proposed? Where is the outrage from our European “friends?”

Perhaps they are confused with the whole rosy picture of Peace being painted by the Main Stream Media (MSM)? Perhaps they believe the lie that this mosque is going to exist to “bring religions together.” Is that why they chose Ground Zero, the most hallowed ground in the Country at the moment?

Last night, the Roy Blunt campaign posted a gross web video with an image of 9/11 rubble and a Robin Carnahan statement about the proposed Park51 project. As Randy Turner writes, "Blunt apparently wants us to be deeply offended because Robin Carnahan said she wasn't going to tell the people of New York what to do about the construction of  a mosque in the Ground Zero area and she didn't want New Yorkers to tell us what to do in Missouri."

Blunt was asked this morning about the ad, and according to The Post-Dispatch's Tony Messenger, claimed to know nothing about the ad.  Minutes later the ad was pulled down.  This is what it looked like before the press asked them to explain what they were up to.  

As previously discussed, this junk from Republicans like Ed Martin and Peter Kinder is dumb and irresponsible.

The AP photo in today's TIME story about Proposition C.

Any questions? 

It's April 2010.  The "death panel" lie has been discredited and debunked more times than any of us can county.  It was even named the 2009 "Lie of the Year" by PolitiFact.com.  But does that mean Ed Martin feels any obligation to stop trying to scare seniors with talk of death panels? Heck no!

Speaking Saturday to the Tea Party/Martin Campaign Rally in Jefferson County:

Life also means respecting our seniors. They're vulnerable.  And we need to protect them. Because 'death panels' are not just a term of art. They're not just a code. When you put bureaucrats in charge of health care, you put bureaucrats' values in charge of our lives. We must not allow health care to be taken over by government. We must allow the patients, especially our seniors, to be protected.

Peter Kinder and his staff were called out for their factually-challenged fearmongering about the federal health care bill in at least two newspapers today, the News-Leader and Southeast Missourian.  Kinder continues to claim that the new law will "wreck Missouri's budget at $500 million a year," which isn't even close to true.  From the News-Leader:

Kinder has his facts wrong, according to an analysis of the health care bill from Nixon's Department of Social Services.

At most, the Medicaid expansion will cost state taxpayers $258.4 million by 2023, according to DSS memo distributed after the health care bill became law in March.

Media Matters for America has an powerful video out this morning asking the question: "How did so many Republicans end up believing falsehoods about Obama?"  Drawing from the recent Harris poll showing that a majority of Republicans think Barack Obama is a socialist and a Muslim, and 45% of GOPers think that Obama was not born in the United States, the Media Matters crew connects the dots between these radical ideas and the radical personalities who spread them on the airways.  The focus of Media Matters' piece is on the media (shocking), but there are of course a disturbing number of Republican officials promoting this ideas to discredit the President as well.

Glenn Miller, a white supremacist and anti-Semite, is causing quite a stir in Springfield and Kansas City with radio ads promoting his write-in candidacy for U.S. Senate. According to The Star, Miller has been "described by the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., as a white supremacist and former paramilitary organizer."

KCTV5 pulled together the audio of five of the ads, which I've embedded here.  But fair warning: they're truly awful. It's hard to believe they're real. 

Along the lines of my post yesterday about Peter Kinder's refusal to cite honest estimates of how federal health care legislation would impact the state budget -- and his incredible claim that "no one has really disputed" his fearmongering -- Chad Livengood has an updated 10-year cost estimate for the News-Leader. 

That's the question Adam Nagourney asks (in slightly different terms) in a New York Times analysis piece today.  Republicans have warned that the just-passed health care bill will destroy America:  Roy Blunt and Todd Akin lied about how they wouldn't get needed surgeries. Blaine Luetkemeyer said it will most certainly kill his father. Peter Kinder warned that the legislation will create a nation "unrecognizable" from the one we have today. And Akin later cried that there is now a "deadly enemy" in Washington.

These were all all ridiculous, stupid and irresponsible statements, and represent just a fraction of the misinformation and hysteria whipped up by GOPers across Missouri and the country.  Leaders in the Republican Party decided last year that they would do everything they could to stop health care reform legislation -- no matter what was actually in the proposals or how they might help their constituents -- and executed a prolonged campaign of misinformation and lies to further their political agenda.

Republicans like Michael Steele say "there is no downside" to their reprehensible campaign.  But what happens when no one pulls the plug on Grandma, and Blaine's dad doesn't die in front of an Obamacare death panel?  And more importantly, what happens when people get used to a world in which insurers stop denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions?  And what happens when seniors begin to enjoy paying less money for prescription drugs? 

Politico's Ben Smith:

The Republican National Committee plans to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign capitalizing on "fear" of President Barack Obama and a promise to "save the country from trending toward socialism."

The strategy was detailed in a confidential party fundraising presentation, obtained by POLITICO, which also outlines how “ego-driven” wealthy donors can be tapped with offers of access and "tchochkes."

The fringe and the mainstream have become one.

Check out the full presentation here.

White House spokesman Nick Shapiro responds to Kit Bond's recent grandstanding on the prosecution of accused terrorists:

Through his pathetic attack on a counter-terrorism professional like John Brennan who has spent his lifetime protecting this country under multiple Administrations, Senator Bond sinks to new depths in his efforts to put politics over our national security.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post's Plum Line blog agrees:

The conventions of political journalism for some reason discourage doing this, but it’s worth pointing out that the White House is right.

Does Kit Bond's grandstanding about prosecuting terrorists have anything to do with politics? "Give me a break!" he says.

I'm not sure why Chuck Todd even asked that question. We all remember when Bond hyperventilated like this when the Bush Administration was prosecuting terrorists in criminal courts.

 Jason Noble has the amusing and frustrating story over at the Prime Buzz of Rep. Chuck Gatschenberger (R-Lake St. Louis) using big boy words in a recent constituent newsletter about federal health care reform legislation. Here's an excerpt, as posted by Noble:

Last night: 

Don't bother doing any research or talking about how the federal health care proposals will effect the states -- just make up numbers that sounds scary.

Of greatest concern, [Charlie] Shields and [Kevin] Engler said, is the potential cost to the state for an expansion of Medicaid under the health-care bill.

That cost could be $250 million, $450 million or maybe even $1 billion, they said.

"It's the biggest unfunded mandate that's ever been sent onto the states," Engler, of Farmington, said.

It could be a billion dollars!   Or it could be one hundred billion dollars! 

Or...the compromise bill that comes out of House and Senate negotiations could produce a bill that's somewhere in between the two bills that have already been passed and evaluated -- and cost the state somewhere between $91-$188 million more each year. 

House Budget Chair and candidate for State Auditor Allen Icet apparently missed all those audits of the "death panel" falsehood -- Saturday, he said they're real.

Icet also attacked the federal health care bill working its way through Congress: "However you want to put lipstick on this pig, it will destroy our country," Icet said. And, he added, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was right: "We will have what she referred to as death panels."

Palin and Icet, of course, are wrong (very wrong).  But why would a man entrusted by the House GOP with the state budget and seeking a promotion to statewide office be expected to know what he's talking about?

UPDATE: Bond released a new statement to TPM explaining his position, but remains silent as to why he didn't criticize Bush when he was in office.

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Talking Points Memo has picked up on my exchange with Sen. Kit Bond's communications director Shana Marchio, and can't find any examples of Bond criticizing the Bush Administration's criminal prosecution of "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.

We couldn't find any reports of Bond speaking out against Bush's handling of the [Richard] Reid case, but we've asked Marchio if he made his views known at the time.

Reid was arrested in December 2001, and pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in January 2003 to eight counts, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted homicide, and placing an explosive device on an aircraft.

Former Attorney General and Missouri Governor/Senator John Ashcroft celebrated the work of the U.S. Attorney in announcing the charges against Reid in January 2002.

A search of Nexis articles mentioning Bond and Reid shows no public criticism or even concern from the Senator about the prosecution, conviction and detention of Reid. 

Some hateful stuff from Ed Martin today, who apparently wants you to know that your life is in danger because Barack Obama is president:

Martin's tweet links an article in the American Thinker, which begins: "Barack Obama could get you killed. That's the reluctant conclusion more and more Americans are contemplating in the wake of the bizarre handling of the Northwest 253 attempted bombing."