Hypocrisy.
Via Powerline.
……Obama’s policies have devastated the economy and convinced many millions of Americans that he has to go. Americans are voting with their wallets, supporting Mitt Romney’s campaign to the point that Romney is significantly outraising Obama at this stage of the campaign. Which has caused Democrats to go completely insane.
Democrats love both money and rich people, as long as the rich people are sending the money their way. …But they can’t seem to get used to the idea that fundraising is a two-way street. So in recent days, they have intensified their attacks on Republican donors.
American Crossroads has run a number of very effective ads; not only that, it was co-founded by Karl Rove. So the Democrats hate it more than almost anything. Yesterday, a coalition of secret big-money liberal donors funded a march on American Crossroads’ Washington headquarters.
The Washington Free Beacon has the story:
Liberal protesters funded by secretive, big money non-profits marched to the headquarters of a conservative super PAC on Wednesday to protest the influence of secretive big money in politics.
……The event was sponsored by such liberal groups as the Campaign for America’s Future, Rebuild the Dream, People for the American Way, Public Campaign, The Other 98%, Health Care for America Now, Alliance for Justice, Public Citizen, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
“Here, groups are marching for donor disclosure, but many don’t disclose their own donors. Some are actually funded in part by SEIU, the dark money kingpin of the left which itself doesn’t disclose donors,” [said American Crossroads communications director Jonathan Collegio].
For example, the Campaign for America’s Future, which describes itself as “the strategy center for the progressive movement,” does not disclose its donors. It could not be reached for comment.
Billy Wimsatt, the partnerships director and co-founder of Rebuild the Dream, was unsure if his organization released its donors. When asked if he knew who funded the group, he said, “That’s not my job.”
Rebuild the Dream was co-founded by former Obama green jobs czar and 9/11 Truther Van Jones, with help from the liberal activist group MoveOn. The organization was not available for comment to disclose its donors.
Jones’ other organization, Color of Change, does not reveal its sources of funding.
Secret money from secretive big donors is perfectly fine as long as it ends up in Obama’s coffers.
The Dems’ pals in the entertainment industry slam wealthy Republicans, while having a net worth of millions of dollars and purchasing homes through private trusts named after their pets to avoid lawsuits, state tax liability, and public scrutiny.
Speaking of money, even if you’re not a big secret donor, Obama will gladly accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover Card, or a donation in lieu of an anniversary, birthday, or wedding gift. Very tacky.
You vill vote for zee Führer, or else.
Peter Orszag, former head of the Obama Office of Management and Budget, is desperate. With even Roll Call recognizing that President Obama is fighting an uphill battle for re-election, Orszag is floating a trial balloon: mandatory voting. His call for forced voting comes in an op/ed for Bloomberg News:
“The U.S. prides itself as the beacon of democracy, but it’s very likely no U.S. president has ever been elected by a majority of American adults.
It’s our own fault — because voter participation rates are running below 60 percent, a candidate would have to win 85 percent or more of the vote to be elected by a majority.
Compulsory voting, as exists in Australia and more than two dozen other countries, would fix that problem. As William Galston of the Brookings Institution argues, “Jury duty is mandatory; why not voting?”
During the 2008 election cycle, voter participation was approximately 64 percent; in 2004, it was about the same. Orszag wants that number up. Why?
“Beyond simply raising participation, compulsory voting could alter the role of money in elections. Turn-out-the-vote efforts, often bankrolled by big-money groups, would become largely irrelevant. Negative advertising could be less effective, because a central aim of such ads is to discourage participation in the opponent’s camp.”
What kind of penalty would Orzag have in store for non-compliant citizens?
No Greek columns for the Emperor this time around.
Late Monday, the DNC announced another convention downsizing. The big kickoff event would be moved from the Speedway to downtown Charlotte. According to spokeswoman Suzi Emmerling the move was prompted by concern over the logistics of shuttling people 18 miles to and from the track. Logistically it just makes more sense to have the kickoff downtown with the rest of the events.
Of course the Charlotte Motor Speedway hasn’t moved since January, so why is this just becoming a problem now? Bloomberg News has the answer. “With a party ban on direct contributions from corporations, the host committee has raised less than $10 million, well short of its $36.6 million goal…” Ouch! Less than ten million is bad. It’s also vague. How much less than ten million did they raise?
With Democrats unable to raise even one-third of their fundraising goal, they were forced to cut a few more corners off their already stunted convention. They’ll need whatever money is left to outfit the 74,000 seat Carolina Panthers football stadium for Obama’s nomination acceptance speech. Hopefully Britney Spears’ set designer can come up with another colonnade of Doric columns on the cheap.
If this keeps up, they’ll have to rent a trailer.
Speaking of real desperation, DemRats are jumping the DNC convention ship.
Vulnerable Democrats looking to distance themselves from President Obama have found an easy way to bolster their independent bona fides: just skip Obama’s big party.
At least half a dozen Democratic officials have said in recent days that they won’t attend the Democratic National Convention this September in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the president will formally receive the party’s nomination for a second term. The latest: New York Democratic Reps. Bill Owens and Kathy Hochul, both of whom won special elections in recent years – in 2009 and 2011, respectively – that were heralded by party leaders.
“I guarantee that my time will be better spent meeting the farmers, small business owners and other people who put me here,” Hochul told The Daily today.
A spokesman for Owens gave a similar explanation.
“He just has a packed schedule back home,” he said.
This comes on the heels of Pennsylvania Rep. Mark Critz saying he’d opt out, and a trio of West Virginia Democrats — Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, Sen. Joe Manchin and Rep. Nick Rahall — all doing the same.
Two more just bailed.
Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill and Montana Senator Jon Tester (both of whom are expected to lose in November) are skipping the DNC convention.
The Obama campaign launch in Ohio was less than spectacular.
According to the Toledo Blade, the venue for Obama’s rally seats 20,000 but “there were a lot of empty seats.” Comparatively, Obama drew a crowd of 35,000 at Ohio State when he campaigned for former Governor Ted Strickland in 2010.
….. The Columbus Dispatch reports that Obama organizers even had people move from the seats to the floor of the gym in order to project a larger crowd on television.
The race card and voting pigment over substance are still being pushed by the Dem platform, with particular intensity. Don’t like Obama? Don’t like his Marxist agenda? Are you Republican? A Tea Party supporter? That makes you racist. Know why? Because the leftwing Harvard academic intelligentsia says so. And leftwingnuts like Chris Matthews say so. As for Obama, who for 20 years, listened to the rants of bigoted maniac in a Black Liberation church; not so much.
The more desperate they get, the more bat-shit crazy they become.