The Romney-Koch Handshake That Network TV Missed | Alternet

The Romney-Koch Handshake That Network TV Missed | Alternet
"When Mitt Romney walked down the aisle toward the stage Thursday night, among the people whose hands he shook was the conservative billionaire and major political donor David Koch. But it was a moment missed by the tens of millions of viewers at home."

Doctors, Patients Rally In Support Of Obamacare In Tampa On The Last Day Of The RNC

Doctors, Patients Rally In Support Of Obamacare In Tampa On The Last Day Of The RNC: Tampa, Florida — As Republicans gathered for the final day of their national convention here in Tampa, a small but vocal group of doctors, medical students and patients marched in the heat to deliver thousands of petitions in support of the Affordable Care Act. One of the marchers, Kenya Wheeler, was a grad student last [...]/p

Republicans strive to make their platform worse on workers' issues in 2012 than it was in 2008

Republicans strive to make their platform worse on workers' issues in 2012 than it was in 2008
"The horrors of the 2012 Republican platform are legion, from abortion to marriage equality to to financial reform. To that list, you can of course add labor issues, where the Republican Party's quest to have its 2012 platform be not just bad but decisively worse than previous ones continues. Josh Eidelson compares 2012 to 2008"

The Real GOP Convention Is on the Cracker Bay | Common Dreams

The Real GOP Convention Is on the Cracker Bay | Common Dreams
"It's clear what Mitt Romney owes these people. What do you think he owes you? Ann Romney said that Mitt was a man who would not fail. She's right; he will not fail his donors. He is a good businessman, so he will give them the service they paid for.

They're so brazen the boat they were meeting on was flying a Cayman Islands flag. As one local put it, even their yacht doesn't want to pay taxes. In the old days, you'd be a little embarrassed about things like this and it would be huge news if you got caught. Now people treat it like it's perfectly normal."

Are you a journalist? Politico leads the crop of post-Ryan reporting failures

Are you a journalist? Politico leads the crop of post-Ryan reporting failures
"At this point, thanks to various individuals who have had the meager audacity to know what Paul Ryan was going on about at the time he was going on about it, we have a fairly good list of the biggest lies uttered in Paul Ryan's speech. Among the biggest is Ryan's attack on $700 billion in Medicare savings under Obama, an attack rather effectively neutered once anyone with half a brain in their heads remembers that Paul Ryan quite specifically has always supported and included those same cuts in his own budget proposals, and so Paul Ryan talking about "saving" Medicare from the very cuts he himself has been endorsing is a Damn Curious Thing at best. Bigger still is Ryan's casual assertion that Obama damaged the credit rating of the United States, which is also a Damn Curious Thing when you consider the rating agency involved specifically called out Paul Ryan's personal band of Congressional anarchists and privateers as the seminal reason for downgrading that credit. Then there is the GM plant that announced its closing during the summer of 2008, before Obama had even gained the small pleasure of trouncing the now perpetually crabby John McCain in state after state after state, much less before he was in any position to do anything about a plant closing in Paul Ryan's neck of the woods."

Paul Ryan: Wrong for the Middle Class

GOP Platform Suggests Billionaires Should Be Able To Give Unlimited Donations To Mitt Romney

GOP Platform Suggests Billionaires Should Be Able To Give Unlimited Donations To Mitt Romney: The Republican National Convention Tuesday adopted a party platform that embraces the highly unpopular Citizens United ruling, opposes meaningful campaign finance disclosure, and actually calls for allowing donors to give more money to politicians. In a section entitled “The First Amendment: Speech that is Protected” the platform states: The rights of citizenship do not stop [...]/p

Voter caging...should Rep. Tim Griffin be in jail?

One of the speakers who took to the stage earlier today at the RNC was Congressman Tim Griffin - who really should be sitting in a jail cell right now. Why's that?

Hundreds Rally Against Voter Suppression Laws Near Republican National Convention

Hundreds Rally Against Voter Suppression Laws Near Republican National Convention: TAMPA, Florida — Hundreds of citizens rallied nearby the Republican National Convention Tuesday, protesting the spread of voter suppression laws across the country over the past two years. Florida has been the epicenter of voter suppression since 2011. Last year, state Republicans passed a law slashing early voting in the Sunshine State, including cutting out [...]/p

10 Things the GOP Platform Hates About You | Alternet

10 Things the GOP Platform Hates About You | Alternet
"The GOP of 2012 is a big tent. Especially if you're a white, wealthy, currently elderly, heterosexual, Christian, non-DC resident who plans on living forever."

After Democratic Convention Bans Corporate Donations, Corporations Avoid GOP Convention Too

After Democratic Convention Bans Corporate Donations, Corporations Avoid GOP Convention Too: For the first time this year, the Democratic National Convention will take no contributions from PACs, lobbyists, or corporations. A new CQ analysis suggests the Democratic ban caused corporations to rethink their giving to the Tampa Republican National Convention. With public sentiment strongly against corporate political contributions and the Democrats’ ban making it impossible for [...]/p

6 Right-Wing Zealots and the Crazy Ideas Behind the Most Outrageous Republican Platform Ever | Alternet

6 Right-Wing Zealots and the Crazy Ideas Behind the Most Outrageous Republican Platform Ever | Alternet
"The official 2012 Republican Party platform is a far-right fever dream, a compilation of pouting, posturing and policies to meet just about every demand from the overlapping Religious Right, Tea Party, corporate, and neo-conservative wings of the GOP. If moderates have any influence in today’s Republican Party, you wouldn’t know it by reading the platform."

The 99% Take On the Republican National Convention | Alternet

The 99% Take On the Republican National Convention | Alternet
"The 99% are suffering. And it’s a no-brainer that they will suffer even more under Romney than under Obama."

In Tampa, Newt Gingrich, Scott Walker Plug Supply-Side Economics | Common Dreams

In Tampa, Newt Gingrich, Scott Walker Plug Supply-Side Economics | Common Dreams
"Wisconsin, along with the rest of the country, has experienced bad unemployment followed by a modest recovery. But during Walker's time in office, the state has hemorhaged jobs, leading the nation in job losses month after month. The recovery experienced by the rest of the nation, reflected in overall employment data, is significantly better than Wisconsin’s, which is a state that has historically had higher employment than most.

That's a clear warning sign about the Republican economic vision for America."