NPR’s Cokie Roberts: Romney visiting Poland to get white votes

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NPR analyst Cokie Roberts claimed on air that Mitt Romney’s stop in Poland was meant to excite “ethnic white voters.”

The comment Monday came as the Republican presidential candidate landed in Poland for the final leg of his three-country tour.

Roberts, also an analyst with ABC News, inferred that the visit is essentially a bid to attract former Reagan Democrats, especially “descendants” of Polish people.

“You remember well the Reagan Democrats, those ethnic white voters who had been Democrats for many years, turned out for Ronald Reagan and have been fairly predictable Republicans since then,” Roberts said. “Now, it’s a smaller percentage of the population, of the voting population than it used to be, but white voters are still much more Republican than any other group in the electorate.

“They went for McCain in 2008 by 55 percent, and I think that, you know, getting those ethnic voters excited is really what Romney has in mind here. It’s more for the folks at home, the descendants of the people that he will be speaking to in Poland,” she said.

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Tea party candidate Ted Cruz wins in Texas GOP runoff

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Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

Tea party favorite Ted Cruz, once considered a long shot to win the Texas Republican Senate nomination, beat Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in a bitterly contested and expensive two-man runoff election Tuesday.

With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, Mr. Cruz got 57 percent of the vote to Mr. Dewhurst’s 43 percent, according to official election returns.

Mr. Cruz will face former Texas state lawmaker Paul Sadler, who the AP declared the winner over Grady Yarbrough in Tuesday’s Democratic primary runoff. But Mr. Sadler will have a huge cash disadvantage and be a significant underdog come November in the Republican-dominated state.

A year ago Mr. Dewhurst, 66, was considered the heir apparent to the seat, which was created by the retirement of four-term incumbent GOPSen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. He was endorsed by the largely popular Gov. Rick Perry. And a personal fortune estimated to be worth $200 million meant that any serious opponent was going to have to raise significant cash to stay competitive.

The lieutenant governor had touted his experience in the Air Force, the CIA and in business, as well as a statewide political career that began in 1999 as the commissioner of the Texas General Land Office.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obamacare Rationing Begins, States Cut Prescription Drug Benefits

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Photo credit: Richard Loyal French

When Democrats in Congress pushed the Obamacare bill through, pro-life groups warned about rationing that could take place as a result. Although liberal groups and the mainstream media laughed at the projections, they are now coming to pass.

A new report from Kaiser Health indicates states are now moving in the director of capping or cutting prescription drug benefits.

Rationing issues in Obamacare have long been a concern of pro-life groups. Although the death panels — the voluntary advanced care planning that pro-life advocates have been concerned about because it could have doctors financially motivated to promote less medical care and lifesaving treatment — occupied most of the debate, the National Right to Life Committee says other provisions cause concern.

NRLC has said Obamacare contains “multiple provisions that will, if fully implemented, result in government-imposed rationing of lifesaving medical care.”

The department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be empowered to impose so-called “quality and efficiency” measures on health care providers, based on recommendations by the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which is directed to force private health care spending below the rate of medical inflation. In many cases treatment that a doctor and patient deem needed or advisable to save that patient’s life or preserve or improve the patient’s health but which runs afoul of the imposed standards will be denied, even if the patient wants to pay for it.

Read more from this story HERE.

Black pastors’ leader accuses Obama of supporting child rape

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By Michelle Fields.  The leader of a group of black pastors opposed to gay marriage lashed out at President Barack Obama during a Tuesday appearance at the National Press Club. In his remarks, Rev. William Owens accused Obama of being “unprofessional” for ignoring him and insinuated that Obama had condoned child molestation by endorsing gay marriage.

“For the homosexual community and for the president to bow to the money as Judas did for Jesus Christ is a disgrace and we’re ashamed,” said Owens, the president and founder of the Coalition for African American Pastors.

“If you watch the men who have been caught having sex with little boys,” said Owens, “you will note that all of them will say that I was molested as a child. A man molested me in my home, wherever they will say they were molested. And for the president to condone this type thing knowing the full facts is just irresponsible.”

Owens added that the “president is in the White House because of the Civil Rights movement, and I was a leader in that. And I didn’t march one inch, one foot, one yard for a man to marry a man and a woman to marry a woman. So the president has forgotten the price that was paid … where they gave their blood to have equal rights in the United States.”  Read more from this story HERE.

Here’s more on the Coalition of African-Americans Pastors’ effort:

Black pastors group launches anti-Obama campaign around gay marriage

By Dan Merica.  A group of conservative black pastors are responding to President Barack Obama’s support of same-sex marriage with what they say will be a national campaign aimed at rallying black Americans to rethink their overwhelming support of the President, though the group’s leader is offering few specifics about the effort.

The Rev. Williams Owens, who is president and founder of the Coalition of African-Americans Pastors and the leader of the campaign, has highlighted opposition to same-sex marriage among African-Americans. He calls this campaign “an effort to save the family.”

“The time has come for a broad-based assault against the powers that be that want to change our culture to one of men marrying men and women marrying women,” said Owens, in an interview Tuesday after the launch event at the National Press Club. “I am ashamed that the first black president chose this road, a disgraceful road.”

At the press conference, Owens was joined by five other black regional pastors and said there were 3,742 African-American pastors on board for the anti-Obama campaign.

When asked at the press conference for specifics about the campaign – funding, planned events and goals – Owens said only that the group’s first fundraiser will be on August 16 in Memphis, Tennessee. But Owens insisted that “we are going to go nationwide with our agenda just like the president has gone to Hollywood.”  Read more from this story HERE.

Romney campaign to announce VP pick via smart phone app

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Photo credit: from_ko

Mitt Romney’s campaign announced Tuesday that supporters can sign up to be the first to learn of the presumptive Republican nominee’s vice presidential choice by downloading a new smartphone app.

“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 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.”

The app will push a notification to supporters’ phones instantly after the name is released from Romney headquarters, and allow users to share and comment on it across a variety of social networks. The application will be free on both the iPhone and Android operating systems, and can be downloaded here.

The approach is the evolution of a 2008 move by the Obama campaign that sent a text message to supporters announcing the selection of now-Vice President Joe Biden. That approach was widely heralded as a way for the Obama campaign team to collect phone numbers for supporters that could later be used for get-out-the-vote and fundraising efforts. The president’s campaign continues to send text messages to users’ phones today.

But depending on how the Romney app works, it could provide even more demographic information to the campaign. Upon installation, the application asks permission to access data about where a user is located, and urges supporters to log in using social networks like Twitter. That could allow the campaign large-scale data harvesting, an invaluable tool for campaign staff looking to tailor advertising and fundraising efforts.

Read more from this story HERE.

Federal Court reinstates discrimination lawsuit against . . . federal discrimination agency (EEOC)

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A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit filed by a woman who claims her employer discriminated against her because of her disabilities.

Oh, the employer? The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. agency that enforces federal employment discrimination laws.

Mary Bullock, who has multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus, was an administrative law judge for the EEOC from 1999 to 2007. She sued the commission in October 2006, alleging violations of the Rehabilitation Act.

Ms. Bullock accused the agency of retaliating against her for seeking the accommodations because of her MS and for alleging discrimination after her requests were ignored.

She said in her lawsuit the agency withheld promotion, refused to allowed her to work at home and imposed tighter deadlines on Ms. Bullock than on her non-disabled colleagues. Ms. Bullock said she was ostracized and effectively discharged.

Read more from this story HERE.

Elizabeth Warren wants US to be more like communist China (+video)

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Democrat Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has committed yet another gaffe. Wait, it’s not a gaffe, it’s a packaged campaign ad that reflects what she wants voters to think of her. In the ad, Warren laments that the US doesn’t “put people to work” with infrastructure “investments” at the level of the communist Chinese government:

President Obama had the chance to “invest” nearly a trillion dollars from the 2009 stimulus, but he chose instead to spend vast amounts to pay off unions before admitting that there weren’t any “shovel ready” jobs to fund.

Warren is borrowing her ideas from pretentious NYT columnist Tom Friedman, who regularly publishes his wish that America could “be China for a day” so that those in charge could spend money the way the communists do, without having to get the consent of the people whose money they would be spending.

China has one of the worse environmental records in the world, and this year one of its “investments” poisoned a major river with 20 tons of cadmium.

Warren is far from the first Democrat to praise communism in recent years. Obama hired communist Van Jones to be his “green jobs” czar, and Obama communications officer Anita Dunn praised communist dictator and mass murderer Mao Zedong in a 2009 speech. A leader with the Communist Party USA wrote in June 2012 that re-electing Barack Obama is “absolutely essential.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Romney aide cusses out disrespectful reporters in Poland

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Photo credit: The Takeaway

The traveling press secretary for Mitt Romney lost his cool and cursed at reporters who attempted to ask questions of the Republican presidential candidate in a public plaza near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw Tuesday.

After Romney paid his respects to Poland’s war dead and shook hands with a small gathering of the nation’s military veterans, the GOP contender walked approximately 100 yards away from the memorial as he chatted with Warsaw’s mayor.

As Romney made his way to his vehicle, reporters attempted to shout questions to the candidate. The former Massachusetts governor, who has answered only three questions from his traveling press corps during a week-long overseas trip, ignored the queries.

When members of the press tried to ask Romney about some of the mishaps on his trip, his traveling press secretary Rick Gorka verbally dressed down reporters.

Here’s a transcript of the questions and Gorka’s response:

CNN: “Governor Romney are you concerned about some of the mishaps of your trip?

NYT: “Governor Romney do you have a statement for the Palestinians?

Washington Post: “What about your gaffes?

NYT: “Governor Romney do you feel that your gaffes have overshadowed your foreign trip?”

CNN: “Governor Romney just a few questions sir, you haven’t taken but three questions on this trip from the press!

Gorka: “Show some respect”

NYT: “We haven’t had another chance to ask a question…”

Gorka: “Kiss my ass. This is a Holy site for the Polish people. Show some respect.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Anderson Cooper’s vicious attack on Michele Bachmann

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Anderson Cooper closed one of five segments of his weeknight CNN show that he recently devoted to attacking principally Rep. Michele Bachmann with a genuflection toward an iconic newsman, Edward R. Murrow. He deployed against her the gauntlet Murrow threw down to Sen. Joseph McCarthy in March 1954: “The line between investigating and persecuting is a [very] fine one.” If anyone has stepped over that line, however, it is Mr. Cooper himself, rather than the Minnesota congresswoman.

Night after night during the week of July 16, the host of “Anderson Cooper 360” failed to meet even the most basic standards of investigative journalism. The irony is that, in his ill-concealed persecution of Mrs. Bachmann, Mr. Cooper has serially engaged in precisely the practices he pillories her and others for using, by his account, to destroy the reputation of a Muslim-American woman named Huma Abedin, the deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Let us count the ways:

*Mr. Cooper insists that Mrs. Bachmann failed to do her homework. He singles her out for most of his criticism, despite the fact that she was but one of five members of Congress to raise concerns not only about Ms. Abedin’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, but those of a number of others the Obama administration has enlisted as officials, advisers and liaisons to “the Muslim community.” Yet, Mr. Cooper repeatedly showed his ignorance of the extensive evidence cited by the legislators, even as he mentioned the website where some of it resides: the Center for Security Policy’s online video course at MuslimBrotherhoodInAmerica.com.

*As he accused Mrs. Bachmann of playing fast and loose with the facts, Mr. Cooper repeatedly mischaracterized the nature of the legislators’ request for five federal inspectors general to conduct investigations. He or his echo chamber of exclusively like-minded guests complained that Ms. Abedin is accused of being a “spy” and engaging in “treason” and that she has been subjected to a groundless, bigoted and McCarthyite witch hunt. Several of the reporters and interested parties who added color commentary (sometimes repeatedly) further demeaned Mrs. Bachmann by asserting that she is simply engaging in partisan politics and fundraising for her re-election campaign.

*As with the lawmaker and to a lesser extent her colleagues, Mr. Cooper also made a point of going after this columnist. If anyone is guilty of “McCarthyism,” though, it is the journalistic poseur who specializes in shooting the messenger and buying into and tendentiously proclaiming that there are “no facts” supporting the unwanted message — rather than rigorously examining and accurately reporting on the vast amount of evidence that inconveniently does exist.

Read more from this story HERE.

CNN Apologizes over Palin “Stupid Girls” Intro but omits story from website (+video)

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CNN has issued an apology for playing Pink’s “Stupid Girls” before a story on former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s support for fast-food restaurant Chick-fil-A and its homophobic president Dan Cathy.

In what is known in the broadcasting industry as a ‘bumper,’ CNN played part of Pink’s 2006 hit “Stupid Girls” before a Sunday morning segment about Palin and her husband dining at a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Texas.

“Sarah Palin is apparently hungry for chicken and controversy,” CNN hard news anchor Randy Kaye said, segueing into the story about how the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee not only ate at Chick-fil-A but posted about her visit on Twitter and Facebook as well.

“Stopped by a Chick-fil-A in The Woodlands to support a great business,” Palin tweeted.

CNN has since apologized for what it called a “poor choice” of music, but the network denied intentionally linking “Stupid Girls” to Sarah Palin.

Read more from this story HERE.

Publisher’s note:  Good luck finding the CNN apology on its web site.  At the time of this posting, the story is nowhere to be found.  Also, if you haven’t seen the CNN segment introducing the Palin story with “Stupid Girl”, here it is here: