Missouri Secretary of State (and U.S. Senate candidate) Robin Carnahan (D) made a quick campaign stop in Lee’s Summit in eastern Jackson County late this afternoon. This was one of those events, in a long series for the day, that takes place in the last seventy-hours of a campaign as the get out the vote operation shifts into high gear.

Those attending this event are the folks who tend to be Democratic Party activists who will be instrumental in making the calls and knocking on doors to turn out the Democratic vote in the final hours leading up to Tuesday.

Robin Carnahan (D) spoke for a few minutes to the crowd about the importance of turning out every vote. She reminded everyone of past close elections. After her remarks she took time to greet everyone in attendance and give and accept best wishes along with encouragement for the next few days.

Then it was back on the bus for the next event of the day.

Listening to a question about the campaign.

Ever get the feeling that some Economic Conservatives read Robin Hood to their kids to scare them?

Oh yeah, the suspense, who is “robbin” you in Republican funhouseland?

Considering that the “Christian families” robocalls got to a lot of pissed off moderates, the odds of the anti-EFCA stuff being send to Union-friendly households is pretty damned good.

Oh yeah, the sources are the same as in this mailer. Only the previous mailer did not have a goofy photoshop job.

1. Cap and Trade is not likely to pass in it’s current form due to the thing we call the Senate, and also special interest groups. And barring a result not expected by anybody, Cap and Trade will probably not wind up in front of the House in the next session, and would need some extensive changes (or better public relations) before it’s moved for again.

2. The source on the card check claim is still slightly up in the air (it’s an online newspaper!) and seems to be an example of “give us what we want or we start hurting people” politics. If Republican politicians were as concerned about jobs emigrating to foreign lands are they are concerned about immigrants from foreign lands, then maybe they’d do something to stop outsourcing. But then again, they’re joined at the hip with the outsourcers.

3. Why do Republicans hate making sure that Medicare could last longer? Oh yeah, because they don’t want Medicare to exist at all. And they’re being opportunistic, claiming they like Medicare, which is a lie, to try and manipulate people into voting them into office. Not to mention that their health care plan is to essentially dismember health care with the promise that the parts they “really” support can be maintained after they disembowel the rest of the law.

The preceding mailer was brought to you by

And an unhindered picture of the goofy Robin Hood/Hamburglar getup that they put Robin in for this flier.

Obviously the MRSC works with stuff that is better than MSPaint. If it weren’t for that part of the flier, I may not have scanned it, because it’s the same old stuff that they sent me a few weeks ago. They need to work harder to stop letting the other clients in their office steal all the ‘good’ citations.

I just received the following text message on my cell phone:

878787

Failed stimulus & Bailout. Increased unemployment. Foreclosures. More govt spending? Want a new direction? Vote Nov 2nd 4 Roy Blunt. Txt STOP 2 Quit VHLP 4 Help

10/24/2010 3:14:23 PM

If this is from the Roy Blunt (r-lobbyists) campaign I’m seriously pissed. If it isn’t I’m seriously pissed. I don’t have a text plan for my cell phone. I very rarely text anyone. I have to pay for this shit. Assholes. And I didn’t sign up for it either.

As for the content of the text message? Here’s the true story:

…Reality: While many people conflate the “stimulus” with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be “non-reviewable by any court or any agency.”) The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.

Uh, wasn’t Roy Blunt instrumental in getting the bailout passed? Uh, yep.

Reality: The stimulus worked, but was not enough. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.

And that spending stuff?:

Reality: Bush’s last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama’s first budget reduced that to $1.29 trillion.

So, Roy Blunt’s (r-lobbyists) “new direction” is back to the way that got us into this mess in the first place. Idiots.

Missouri Secretary of State (and U.S. Senate candidate) Robin Carnahan (D) stopped in Warrensburg this afternoon to visit with voters at the UCM homecoming football game. This was the third of four campaign stops for the day – spanning the state from east to west.

Arriving at UCM’s stadium.

The campaign bus arrived at the stadium at approximately 3:15 p.m., trailed by a car with a reporter and a photographer for the New York Times (as I understood it – I was shooting photographs and the Times folks weren’t engaging me in small talk).

Foreground, left to right, former State Representative Deleta Williams (D), Secretary of State Robin Carnahan,

Juan Carlos Antolinez, Robin Carnahan’s spouse.

Two campaign staffers (right) accompany the group to the stadium entrance.

Juan Carlos Antolinez and Robin Carnahan share a conversation with a student worker in the stadium elevator.

Robin Carnahan spent about an hour at the stadium visiting with folks attending the game. A staffer politely reminded everyone that it was time to leave for the next stop and the traveling party walked back to their campaign bus for the final leg of the trip to Kansas City.

At this stage of any campaign it’s one thing after another at breakneck speed.

With the news of Roy Blunt having his own illegal housekeeper problem, it’s worth highlighting this quote before we go deep into this post.

“I decided that if the guy you know best at Immigration and Naturalization happens to be the person in charge, then it’s all right to direct your correspondence to him”

Perhaps the most illuminating part of the story released on Tuesday is that it shows once again the Roy Blunt philosophy on government. The Roy Blunt philosophy of government seems to involve his family and allies getting first dibs and the rest of us getting the leftovers.

Roy Blunt is someone who asked “How bad do you want this job to be?” when criticized for riding the pay-raise train over his 14 years in Congress. It’s not about doing the right thing, it’s about the power and privilege and the ability to have it trickle down to the friends and family.

Back in 1990 when he was pulling out the stops for someone who his campaign wants you to believe was just helpful at church events, Roy Blunt was showing a preview of what we know he has done in the last 14 years in Congress. Also when it comes to the Dora Narvaez story, there must have been a lot of church events, some of which must have occurred at Roy Blunt’s house, since Dora Narvaez said that she worked for Blunt.

For someone whose political peak before moving up the Republican ladder involved pointing out that Bill Webster was engaging in Pay for Play in a memorable ad, Roy Blunt rode the pay for play merry-go-round to new horizons. Look at UPS, who rode the merry-go-round, giving thousands to Blunt, employing Andy Blunt as a lobbyist, and getting favors from Congress (such as the 2003 Night Assault). To be a bit more fair, A lot of companies employed Andy Blunt, just check out the list. Enough companies employ Andy Blunt as a lobbyist that he can survive as the unpaid campaign manager to Roy Blunt.

I’m sure that the rise of Andy Blunt to “lobbyist for the stars” was a merit hiring from the beginning (hey, you don’t know if they have a lobbyist civil service exam!) and not a avenue to improve relations with a virtuous noble man like Roy Blunt. If you think a successful unpaid campaign manager who doubled as a lobbyist for 21 companies (with many more that he worked for in the past) isn’t making up for lost income if his dad is elected in 2 weeks, then you have too much confidence for your own good.

The twisting of the Wind Farm into some sort of sinister fable where Obama personally inserted money for Tom Carnahan to repay Robin for the election just scores how little they have on Robin Carnahan and how defensive they have to be when it comes to Roy Blunt’s record. It’s almost like you need to use a funhouse mirror to distort reality to match what they’ve said about the wind farm.

The Universal Rules of Politics include “There will be food at events that you won’t pay for”, “Every politician wishes they were an only child at least once”, and “Attack someone on something which is a weekness of yours”. Let’s just say that Blunt proved a universal rule in the last months.

There’s a risk of turning a story of Roy Blunt’s friends and family pay for play plan into an internet version of In-a-gadda-da-vida. After all, both his unpaid campaign manager and his wife can be referenced in regards to the Philip Morris incident of 2002. You could figure out how many corporate jets Roy Blunt rode on and if he could explain them all away. You could drag the failed One-term Governor Matt Blunt out of the obscurity that he was sentenced to in order to reference some more great moments in the history of Roy Blunt’s friends and family plan. Heck, you could even make the liner notes out of ten pages of “Roy Blunt unfit to lead“. Some politicians only produce corruption in concentrated pellets, Roy Blunt has produced an assembly line of corruption for 14 years.

The Blunt saga hasn’t been completely told this morning. There’s still more to be told and more to be unveiled.

So.. In conclusion, The United States Senate is a body whose members wield heavy hammers and the potential to make things happen, either positive things for the nation or positive things for a very few.

The record of Roy Blunt as a House member is enough to be pretty sure that his election to the Senate would be Christmas day for the corporations and the professional lobbyists who have rode the friends and family pay to play merry-go-round with Roy Blunt for 14 years.

After all, why would he change his way of doing business in the next six years if he’s rewarded on November 2nd?

Last week Greg Sargent’s Plum Line detailed some of the falsehoods in the flood of third party ads produced by Carl Rove’s Crossroads group and by the Chamber of Commerce. Because of the furor over their funding – the undisclosed donors, the possibility of foreign contributors, etc. – the fact that these ads are chock full of blatant, egregious falsehoods had not received much attention earlier. The onslaught has now truly begun; third party ads have been flooding the airwaves (on some evenings I have seen the same ad over six times – and I don’t watch that much TV). Many of us were worried about what Citizens United would mean for our democracy; these ads, the ugly spawn of that decision, prove that we were more than right to be concerned.

One ad in particular centers around absurd claims that the Affordable Care Act cuts Medicare by 500 billion dollars – the ad has been directed at several Democrats with only slight variations. You can see some of the versions of the ad and get the real facts about its lies here (you can also see one such ad below the fold). Take a look at it and then compare it with the new Roy Blunt ad (also shown below the fold) – not too much difference, right?

Given Blunt’s past propensities for abusing the truth, I’m not surprised that he is putting out one more dishonest ad, nor am I surprised that the subject matter is Medicare. He is clearly hoping to stem the damage Carhanan did in their last debate when she not only brought up Roy’s past statements about Medicare, but confronted him with proof when he denied them:

Among other things, the Carnahan camp disputed Blunt’s apparent denial during the debate that he had ever said that Medicare shouldn’t have been created. Carnahan’s campaign sent out a number of links to numerous news accounts — including two videos (click here and here) — in which Blunt appeared to disparage the government health-care program for the elderly, voted for cuts or voted for a proposal to turn the program into a voucher system.

What better way to save face when you are caught in a lie, but to lie some more – hence this new Medicare ad. Of course, if you are Roy Blunt, your contempt for your constituents is so great that you don’t even bother to come up with something plausible – you simply crib from your Crossroads GPS pals and adapt their all-purpose lies to do your dirty work. After all, Carl Rove proved that if you tell a lie often enough, everyone will think it’s the truth.

Update: FiredUp! Missouri has video of a KMBC TV segment that factchecks the Blunt ad.

One of the Crossroads GPS ads, the new Blunt ad, and two videos of Blunt dissing Medicare can be found below the fold:

Crossroads GPS ad attacking Joe Sestak (PA):

New Roy Blunt ad:

Roy Blunt on Medicare:

And:

If you say something often enough, it becomes true. Which is why I’m eventually going to be dating supermodels.

Perhaps the Stimulus was more of a gauze than anything else. Especially if you believe the CBO when they say that The Stimulus prevented another depression. And there’s that whole thing where the ‘official’ recession ended, which leads up to the current stabilization. Sadly, a stabilization in the realm of “lousy” is not enough and economic stimulus/acceleration still has to be done to get things going. The same “tax cut everybody and hope it works this time” Republican voodoo is not quite enough here. (Assuming that the Republican strategy isn’t “wait until 2013”, of course)

Oh yeah, the flier.. almost forgot about the rest.

Taxpayer Grants that their company was always qualified for (pre and post-Obama). Taxpayer Grants that the Republicans supported, until someone they don’t want in office is running.

As for the executives. Unless you wish to argue that the Wind Capital Group has invisible supplementary executives, the three higher-ups listed as donors are Tom Carnahan, Baumgardner, and George Knapp. We’re not gonna seriously be shocked that someone would give thousands to his younger sister’s campaign, are we? And in the shadowy conspiracy world that this idea operates in, then the guy who got the favor would be Russ Carnahan (seeing as he’s an actual member of Congress), and how much did Russ get from Baumgardner and Knapp? $0

Obviously the evils of wind power know no bounds.

Then again, does Roy really want to bring favors to family into play? because his imaginary accusations can be countered some pretty solid facts.

And here’s the works cited page (plus the info on the sender of today’s mail)

Wonder how many Republican mailers you need to hook to a turbine before you can power a laptop? I’ve been looking into going green.

When you hear Claire McCaskill strutting her deficit cutting stuff by boasting about how she opposes earmarks, you are entitled to roll your eyes. Earmarks amount to less than 2% of the budget and the deficit would hardly know it if they said bye-bye tomorrow.  

There is, however,  a serious problem with earmarks: influence peddling. They provide a very useful tool for corrupt politicians. The reason I’m bringing this topic up now is this little nugget that I came across while scanning the KC Star’s Prime Buzz:  

We’re told Roy Blunt  has worked hard to get support from some leaders in Kansas City’s African-American community, particularly from members worried about Robin Carnahan’s opposition to earmarks, which are used to help projects in the inner city.

And we’re told that work has or will bear fruit, with endorsements from some members of the community, including we’re told, Rev. Modest Miles.

I’ve got no problems with the Rev. John Modest Miles. I am sure that he just wants to do the best for his community. He and any other member of the Kansas City African-American community have every right to decide that Roy Blunt’s positions on earmarks suit them more than Robin Carnahan’s.

But if Blunt, who is known for inserting favors for campaign donors into unrelated legislation, goes after Rev. Miles’ endorsement while waving his earmark wand, doesn’t it create just a little stench? We need to remember that this is the same Roy Blunt about whom former New York Times columnist Thomas Edsall wrote that he “embodies the insidious, half-legal corruption that has permeated the G.O.P. majority since 1995.”

* Last paragraph edited slightly.

During the past few weeks, Roy Blunt has managed to mention his “jobs plan” in just about every other sentence, and like that fish story where the fish gets bigger and bigger with each retelling, it seems the job plan also gets bigger and bigger with each retelling. He’s so proud of it that last night, during his debate with Robin Carnahan, he inflated his 20 page plan to 100 pages, comparing it with what he called Carnahan’s “500 word plan.”

Not only was he mistaken about the size of his plan, but he also misspoke about Carnahan’s “jobs plan.” Rather than a detailed blueprint for jobs creation, you will find on Carnahan’s campaign Webpage a list of general “commonsense” principles that she would use to guide her efforts as a legislator charged with creating jobs, a principled, intelligent approach to a complex issue that will be only be resolved as part of a cooperative, congressional effort.

When I try to reduce Blunt’s plan to similar principles, I come up with three sentences that left me with a serious (and not very pleasant) case of deja vu:

1. Cut social spending, some administrative government expenses, and privatize wherever possible in order to cut the deficit.

2. Cut taxes

3. Gut industrial and business regulation.

Bearing in mind the “500 word” jibe, I tried, just for fun, to list each more or less substantive proposal listed in his plan in order to count the words. After cutting out the standard GOP talking points and the empty whinging about the Obama administration and the Democratic congress, I was left with about 280 words.

You will notice if you read the shorter Blunt jobs plan below, that it is seriously uneven and often duplicative. There are big, vague proposals combined with extremely specific and often rather trivial proposals. Many would have a questionable or even a negative effect on either job creation or deficit reduction, which is one of the legs of his plan, others would probably have some small effect, while still others reference future issues (e.g., cap-and-trade, which is already probably dead for the near term). What they all have in common is that, taken together, they could be mistaken for a wish-list prepared by Blunt’s corporate donors and lobbyist pals.

If you want to read Blunt’s six point jobs plan in the 280 word version, jump below the fold. (There’s also an excellent analysis of the deficit cutting claims Blunt makes about his proposed spending cuts over at FiredUP Missouri if Blunt’s jobs mania interests you.)

Roy Blunt’s job plan in 280 words:

Cut spending : Take back unspent stimulus;  “reform” entitlements (i.e., privatize Social Security, slash welfare?) ; cut welfare; reform Fannie and Freddie Mac, sell Excess government property;  cut subsidies to unions (i.e., prohibit public employees from doing union business at work ); cut memberships to funny sounding international organizations; and slash duplicative government  agencies; and freeze domestic discretionary spending at 2008 levels.

Stabilize marketplace: Let industry call all the shots (i.e., cut  business taxes  and gut regulations); repeal the Affordable Care Act; extend the homeowners tax credit;  lower the tax depreciation schedule; enact tort reform

Promote American energy through American Energy Act (H.R. 2846) which promotes coal,  oil, nuclear energy and has a nodding relationship to alternative fuel development; repeals prohibition on government purchase of fuels from dirty sources like oil shale, tar sands and coal-to liquid technology; encourages “clean” coal-to-liquid technology; gives tax credits for producing renewable electricity and investment tax credits for solar energy and fuel cell properties; extends the biodiesel and renewable diesel tax credits; permits deep water drilling.

Create access to credit for business: Repeal the Financial Reform Bill and deep-six the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB); reduce the business tax depreciation schedule

Expand U.S. Exports:  Enact pending NAFTA-like trade agreements with Columbia, Korea and Panama.

“Creative” new policies to promote business growth by getting government out of the way of businesses so that they can do by themselves what they haven’t been able to do by themselves to date:: extend Bush tax cuts, cut taxes that haven’t been enacted such as taxes on certain partnership profit interests.; squash Cap-and-trade; kill ergonomics regulations, repeal drilling moratorium, end small business reporting mandates, repeal Affordable Care Act.

 

Reading one of the newspaper reports about the Roy Blunt-Robin Carnahan debate last night, I was struck by a no doubt trivial detail. At one point, talking about jobs, Blunt claimed that

Our jobs plan is over 100 pages. Secretary of Carnahan’s jobs plan is under 500 words _ you could tweet her jobs plan in four tweets,” said Blunt, referring to the Internet social networking site, Twitter.

Does he mean this Jobs Plan which can be downloaded from his campaign Webpage? Because I swear I can’t find more than 20 pages. Does he think that the linked references comprise part of the Plan? If so, I’ve got news for him – they don’t. I’ve also got to say that lots of those 20 pages don’t amount to more than boilerplate and whining about the Obama administration.

Am I really mistaken, or is this one more instance of Roy the serial liar? There are folks who just can’t resist a fib, no matter how silly. Is there another version of the “Jobs Plan,”  have I not seen it all, or is Roy one of those sad, dissembling individuals? I’m confused.

Update: The account of the debate in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch omitted Blunt’s assertion that his jobs plan had more than a hundred pages:

Blunt stressed his theme of private sector job creation, accusing Carnahan of lacking details on how she would boost the economy. He used a reference to the popular social media network, Twitter, to make his sharpest jab in the debate.

“You could tweet her jobs plan in four tweets,” he said.

An odd omission since the “four tweets” comment is part of a comparative statement.