THE TEA IS JUST NOT THAT INTO WOMEN

Women aren't invited to the tea party this year.

National Tea Party organizations play a major role in Republican primary elections, helping boost far-right candidates with money, volunteers, and attention. These groups include Tea Party Express, Tea Party Patriots, Senate Conservatives Fund, FreedomWorks, and Club for Growth, the last two of which existed before the 2009 rise of the Tea Party but nonetheless share a virtually identical mission in GOP primaries.

However, much like the Republican Party they aim to take over, the Tea Party has its own woman problem.

Of 80 candidates who were endorsed or funded by national Tea Party groups so far this election cycle, just four were women. Two of those four — Katrina Pierson and Karen Handel — have already lost their primaries, while Joni Ernst is leading in the Iowa Republican Senate primary and Mia Love is the Republican nominee in Utah’s fourth congressional district.

Though the overall number of Republican women running for Congress has dropped this year, the Tea Party is not supporting the vast majority who have thrown their hat in the ring. The Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University has identified 74 women running or likely to run this cycle. In addition, the Tea Party has been heavily involved in recruiting candidates to run for office, and thus bear some responsibility if they find a dearth of conservative women candidates.

What’s more, multiple women currently serving in Congress have faced attack ads from the Tea Party. Club for Growth has spent money to defeat Reps. Martha Roby and Renee Ellmers , both of whom were elected with Tea Party support in 2010.

Conservatives and the Republican Party as a whole have developed a reputation for attacks on women. This was especially evident in recent election cycles where two Republican Senate nominees, Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, both lost to Democrats in red states after espousing their views on rape and abortion. The party’s “war on women” image is also reflected in the gender gap among voters. In 2012, women voted for President Obama by a 55-44 margin, whereas men opted for Mitt Romney 52-45, an 18-point gender gap.

National Republicans have expressed concern about the ongoing problem their party has with women. “We recognize that we need to speak to single women under 35,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said recently. “It’s a demographic issue that we want to do better with.” Indeed, following their loss in the 2012 presidential election, Republicans released an autopsy that determined acknowledged “the Party’s negative image among women” and the “growing unrest within the community of Republican women frustrated” by that fact. The GOP establishment created several outreach arms ahead of the midterms specifically to pitch women and non-white voters. Many of these efforts have thus far gone awry.

However, concern over the party’s anti-woman image seems yet to have sunk in with Tea Party activists. Given the Tea Party’s continued control of the Republican Party’s policies and base, until it begins recruiting and endorsing more women candidates, it will continue alienating huge swaths of voters





NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

BOEHNER GETS A SPINE......SORT OF

BOEHNER GETS A SPINE?

Cross-posted from thinkprogress:

After several right-wing outside groups slammed the bipartisan budget deal negotiated by House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Budget Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) — in some cases before the deal was even announced — Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) hit his breaking point. “When you criticize something and you have no idea what you’re criticizing, you’ve lost your credibility,” he told reporters Thursday, noting that it “comes to a point where some people step over a line.” But Boehner’s frustration has no doubt been building up over this three years as Speaker, as groups like Heritage Action, Freedom Works, and the Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) have stymied his attempts to pass even conservative-friendly legislation.

In 2011, Boehner and President Obama were on the verge of reaching a “grand bargain” on taxes, spending, and deficit reduction. The talks fell through, in part because freshmen Republicans and the conservative groups that backed them were unwilling to accept new revenue.

Here are some of the bipartisan and GOP measures the groups have worked to block over the past three years:


The 2011 Budget Control Act.

Facing a possible default on the national debt, Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid agreed on a bill to force automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration, unless a “super committee” could find sufficient savings cut hundreds of billions of dollars from federal spending over the next ten years. Though Boehner had made in clear in 2010 that when Washington hit its debt limit, Congress would “have to deal with it as adults,” groups on the right opposed increasing the ceiling. Heritage Action denounced the agreement, arguing that “Speaker Boehner’s most recent proposal to raise the debt limit is regrettably insufficient for our times.” With Freedom Works and SCF also opposed, 66 House Republicans voted against the bill.


The 2012 highway bill.

With the Highway Trust Fund set to run out of money, the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-control Senate sent an extension bill to conference committee. Freedom Works announced its opposition to the bipartisan compromise and said it would score it as a key vote, criticizing it for making “few reforms to the federal government’s rampant spending on transportation.” Heritage Action also strongly opposed the extension and scored it as a vote “to maintain unsustainable levels of funding when we are nearly $16 trillion in debt.” 52 House Republicans voted no.


The New Year’s Eve 2012 Fiscal Cliff deal.

As 2012 ended, Congress grappled with a standoff over the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts and the beginning of drastic sequestration cuts. After Vice President Joe Biden (D) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reached a deal to extend some of the tax cuts, let others expire, and delay the cuts, the groups blasted the deal as “higher taxes.” FreedomWorks announced it would count a vote for the bill against legislators, while Heritage Action slammed it before it was even announced as a “K Street gravy train,” laden with giveaways to special interest groups. The deal passed with Boehner’s support, but the majority of Republicans voting against.


Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

The Senate passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill in June by an overwhelming 68-32 super-majority. The bill had the strong opposition of SCF and Heritage Action, who attacked it as “amnesty.” While Boehner initially agreed that it was “time for Congress to act,” GOP opposition has delayed any House action until at least 2014.


Efforts to avert the October 2013 government shutdown over Obamacare.

The effort to force a government shutdown over defunding Obamacare was largely driven by freshman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and the Senate Conservatives Fund. Even though Boehner warned that it was a bad strategy, SCF and the other groups pressured Republican members to oppose any bill to fund the government without killing the Affordable Care Act. As the government shutdown dragged on, Boehner was forced to pull bills from the floor as members of his caucus refused to go against the groups’ wishes. At one point, he reportedly recited the Serenity Prayer at a closed-door caucus meeting at which he announced his “Plan B” was being scrapped for lack of Republican support. Though FreedomWorks believed the standoff a “brilliant strategy,” Congress eventually reopened government without any repeal. A furious Heritage Action said the compromise “will do nothing to stop Obamacare’s massive new entitlements from taking root — radically changing the nature of American health care.”


The 2013 Farm Bill.

On October 1, Congress allowed the historically bipartisan Farm Bill to expire. Attempts to revive the law, which funds numerous programs vital to the nation’s food supply, have been ongoing. Citing “myriad flaws with both the House and Senate” farm bill proposals, Heritage Action suggested there were “a trillion reasons not to pass the Farm Bill.” Freedom Works opposed even the more conservative House proposal as “80% food stamps and 100% fiscally irresponsible.” Boehner backed the House bill, but 62 Republicans joined with 172 Democrats to defeat it.

Though Paul Ryan has enjoyed a close relationship with Tea Party groups like Freedom Works in the past, these groups slammed the Ryan-Murray compromise as a “surrender.” and promised to hold it against anyone who votes for his bill. Heritage Action condemned the bill as “a step backwards.” The 2012 Vice Presidential nominee dismissed the attacks from the right as a “strange new normal.”

Freedom Works accused Boehner Wednesday of “smearing fiscally conservative groups.” “Speaker Boehner’s real problem here isn't with conservative groups like Freedom Works,” they explained, but “with millions of individual Americans who vote Republican because they were told the GOP was the party of small government and fiscal responsibility.”

NFTOS

STAFF WRITER

FREEDOMWORKS

TEA PARTY ONE STEAMING PILE

FreedomWorks, the Tin Foil Hat Society group that pushed Congressional Republicans to shut down the government and to risk a default on the national debt in order to push a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, railed against Wednesday’s bipartisan deal to reopen the federal government and protect the full faith and credit of the United States. But a review of their campaign spending since 2009 finds that more of their political activity benefited Senators and Representatives who voted for the agreement than those who voted against it.

Of the more than $2.8 million in PAC contributions and independent expenditures made to support current members of Congress by FreedomWorks and its FreedomWorks for America superpac, over $1.5 million aided Republicans who voted for the deal the group so vehemently opposed, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. Less than $1.3 million went to support candidates who backed the FreedomWorks position.

FreedomWorks joined with the Club for Growth, Phyllis Schlafly and her Eagle Forum, Heritage Action for America, Citizens United, and an array of other Tin Foil Hat and far-right groups to oppose the deal agreed to by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). In a joint letter, they called the “Washington deal” an unmistakable “vote to move forward with Obamacare.” In a separate statement, FreedomWorks CEO Matt Kibbe warned that his group would count a vote for this “sellout bargain” against legislators on its annual legislative score card.

Kibbe added:

Republican leadership has completely lost its way. Not only is this proposal a full surrender- it’s a complete surrender with presents for the Democrats. Apparently Mitch McConnell’s idea of a ‘compromise’ is to increase the debt limit, fully fund a broken health care law, and promise talks of increasing spending down the road. 

The group spent more than $1.2 million to elect Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake. Flake voted for the compromise — and for the cloture motion to end debate on it — explaining that because it kept the sequester spending cuts in place, the deal was “a win for fiscal conservatives.” In a 2012 campaign ad, FreedomWorks for America called Flake “fiscally responsible.”

Just over $163,000 went to back Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman, who also voted yes. Coffman argued the deal “says we’re done fighting and we’re ready to begin an honest discussion about solutions for reducing the debt.”

Other FreedomWorks-backed Republicans voting with the bipartisan super-majorities included Sens. Richard Burr (NC) and Deb Fischer (NE), as well as Reps. Kevin Cramer (ND), Steve Daines (MT), Cory Garnder (CO), David McKinley (WV) Robert Pittenger (NC), Reid Ribble (WI), Steve Stivers (OH), Scott Tipton (CO), and Todd Young (IN).

Kibbe told CNN on Wednesday that tea baggers who voted for the deal would “absolutely” pay a “political price” for their votes — primary challenges in their next elections.

If we are going to end the conservative's brinkmanship of governing by crisis then we must not only eliminate GOP majorities, but we must also reduce their margins of control as to temper their tempers.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

BULLSHIT ARTISTS

USE THIS BAG WHEN GETTING FACTS FROM LISTED NEWS SOURCES

Republican politicians, conservative talk show hosts, conservative authors, and all Fox News media types - are all very capable of convincing their unlettered followers of bullshit they emit. From Benghazi, to Presidential birth certificates, the heaping pile of steaming dog shit that oozes from these media outlets - is exponentially massive.

Republicans often talk about the media's "liberal bias", and while MSNBC promotes a progressive message during their prime time line-up, the news organization often tags themselves with the slogan "lean forward." But at least they are honest about their positions and their reporting.

NFTOS has covered numerous Faux News stories [and other right wing-nut news sources] - where the "fair and balanced" aficionados, at best, have had a problem with facts - frequently stretching the limits between fact and fiction. [If you use NFTOS search engine you shall see 8 pages of bullshit labeled to Fox News].

Faux News is not the only conservative information source that struggles with telling the truth. Below is a list of 50 bullshit artists, a guide if you will - a who's who of conservative news fecal matter masters.

Why are "contemporary" Republicans so full of shit? How did the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and General Eisenhower get taken over by such lying, thieving, self-serving scoundrels?

1. Fox News

2. The Rush Limbaugh Show

3. Glenn Beck

4. Savage Nation w/ Michael Savage

5. Alex Jones' Info Wars

6. The Heritage Foundation

7. The Wall Street Journal Op-Ed

8. The Neal Boortz Radio Show

9. Sean Hannity

10. Bill O'Reilly

11. Rightwingnews.com

12. National Review

13. The Mark Levin Show

14. The Weekly Standard

15. Washington Times

16. The American Conservative

17. The Drudge Report

18. The Cato Institute

19. Media Research Center

20. Townhall.com

21. Red State

22. Andew Breitbart's Big Government

23. The American Cause

24. Christian Coalition

25. The John Birch Society

26. Citizens United

27. Freedom Works

28. Tea Party Express

29. Tea Party Patriots

30. The Herman Cain Show

31. News Busters

32. News Max

33. The New York Post

34. Conservative HQ

35. Sirius radio "Patriot"

36. Conservative American News

37. Conservative Daily News

38. Judicial Watch

39. The Source Daily

40. Republican National Committee

41. American Spectator

42. Reason Magazine

43. Freedom Rings Radio hosted by Kenneth

John

44. Conservapedia

45. The Right Side of the Web

46. CNS News

47. Michael Reagan

48. Family Research Council

49. Conservative Underground

50. The Hugh Hewitt Show


To often is the case, that the radicals on the right try to demonize anyone who is willing to tell the truth. The real truth however is, that the majority of the right wing-nut media outlets (TV, radio, internet, print) are owned by big corporations [Koch Whores] who try to protect the radical conservative archaic ideology. From big news outlets to small time blogs, there are many places that you want to avoid when trying to get good news and information.




NFTOS
Editor-In Chief
Roger West