Amid the controversy over Chrysler’s “It’s Halftime In America” Super Bowl commercial, a glaring question remains: if Chrysler is back on top and so strong, then why hasn’t it repaid taxpayers the $1.3 billion it still owes them?

“I was, frankly, offended by it,” said Republican strategist Karl Rove. “I’m a huge fan of Clint Eastwood, I thought it was an extremely well-done ad, but it is a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics, and the president of the United States and his political minions are, in essence, using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising.”

Already, Democrats have begun co-opting the “It’s Halftime In America” meme, and President Barack Obama’s campaign team has already signaled that “saving” Detroit and the American auto industry will be a central campaign theme in Mr. Obama’s 2012 reelection bid. Indeed, in June 2011, Mr. Obama proudly declared:

Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes American taxpayers for their support during my presidency–and it repaid that money six years ahead of schedule.  And this week, we reached a deal to sell our remaining stake.  That means Chrysler will be 100 percent in private hands.

The Washington Post fact checker, however, disagreed–strongly. (more…)

On January 21, Mitt Romney went from being the presumptive GOP presidential candidate to being the guy who’s now spending dollars at a 20-to-1 ratio in Florida in an attempt to stop his meteoric plunge into the political abyss. Truth be known, the hard times began even a few days prior to January 21, when the official count in Iowa revealed that Rick Santorum had won the caucuses rather than Romney.

In a nutshell, as the nation watched the South Carolina primary approaching, Romney had two things going for him—the Republican establishment and the equally pro-Romney mainstream media. This gave him the illusion of strength: an illusion the Tea Party was able to see past (and through) as they ran to the one candidate whom Sarah Palin said she’d vote for in South Carolina—Newt Gingrich.

To put it as the UK’s Telegraph did:

The Tea Party was dead – long live the Beltway Cocktail Hour! Then came South Carolina, where religious and fiscal conservatives finally got it together and backed a candidate against Mitt Romney.

Honestly folks, even with the backing of prominent people like Karl Rove, Ann Coulter, and others, Romney only managed to win one of the first three contests (New Hampshire), and he didn’t just lose in South Carolina, he got throttled. Now, the historic fact that whoever wins South Carolina wins the GOP nomination has staggered Romney. And now he looks to Florida where Newt promises to deliver “the knockout punch.” So Romney’s handlers are circling the wagons, and talking about Gingrich the way they talked about Tea Party House and Senate candidates during the Nov. 2010 mid-term elections.

(more…)

Christmas is right around the corner and Hanukkah is even closer.  If you are like me, you will want to go shopping for presents that say “thank you” to some of our favorite political figures and news people who worked so hard during the past year to make our lives more—interesting.  I thought I would help you folks out and come up with a list of suggested items to get for some of my favorites.  I have given my list much thought but, sadly, I can’t afford to buy anything because of the lousy economy.  Yet, that doesn’t mean you guys can’t:

• Nancy Pelosi - An electric broom (what else do you get a witch who has everything?)

• Eric Holder - Hooked on Phonics. You ever see him at a committee hearing? All he ever says is, “no I didn’t read that.” It’s obvious that the guy can’t read.

• Mitt Romney – Not a waffle iron or a pair of flip-flops; that would be too easy. Like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, I want to get him a brain, not because he isn’t smart, but so he can understand why people are looking to nominate anybody but him.  I don’t think he gets it.

• Political Adviser David Axelrod - You know, I can’t think of anything he likes.  You will have to figure it out yourself.

• Former Vice President Al Gore - A heating pad… so he can honestly say it’s getting warmer… somewhere.

(more…)

When Gov. Sarah Palin was deciding whether or not to get into the presidential race, Karl Rove was popping up on Fox News to talk about why her skin was too thin for the job. And when Gov. Rick Perry was thinking about his entrance into the race, Rove was Johnny-on-the-spot with reasons why a Perry candidacy would not be viable either.

Now Rove’s moved on to Herman Cain, whose candidacy he’s doing all he can to sink, sidetrack, or otherwise derail.

On Fox News this past Monday, Rove did his best Mr. Rogers imitation by holding up a small dry-erase board with words (and phrases) for the day like “abortion, neoconservative, Afghan policy,” etc.  According to Rove, Cain’s “gaffes” in these areas have rendered him unelectable.

How so? Well, according to Rove: “I think it has created an image of him as not being up to this task. [And] that’s really deadly.”

Of course, it’s important to keep in mind the fact that Rove is an establishment Republican who supports McRomney And if someone really wants to focus on gaffes, they should focus on McRomney’s deception on hiring illegal lawn care workers, his full-blown support of Roe v. Wade not so long ago, his support of the assault weapons ban, his support of the Brady Bill, and his ongoing belief in manmade global warming, among other things.

But I guess all that wouldn’t fit on Rove’s little board. (more…)

Byron York in today’s The Washington Examiner:

Former Bush advisor Karl Rove says he believes former Alaska governor Sarah Palin will enter the Republican presidential race sometime around Labor Day. Appearing on Fox News Saturday morning, Rove said Palin “has a schedule next week that looks like that of a candidate, not a celebrity.” Rove also cited a new campaign-style video Palin has released on her recent visit to the Iowa State Fair as evidence Palin is gearing up for a run.

Palin will be the keynote speaker at the Tea Party of America’s “Restoring America” event in Iowa September 3. The event location was recently moved from Waukee, Iowa, to Indianola, Iowa to accommodate a larger crowd.

“This is her last chance,” Rove said. “She either gets in or gets out [after the Iowa visit]. I think she gets in.”

(more…)

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Andrew Malcolm to discuss the 2012 GOP field, the power of the hat, and more. Then Pejman Yousefzadeh talks about Newt Gingrich’s bid for President.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

For political leaders like Moammar Kadafi, ruling power is really all about The Hat
Rep. Michele Bachmann scores a prime early GOP speaking gig in New Hampshire
Malcolm: Top of the Ticket
Newt Gingrich Set to Throw His Hat in the Ring to be 2012 Republican Nominee for President
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In the 3rd Congressional District of Missouri, a race for the ages is taking place.  Ed Martin (R), one of the originals involved with the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition and endorsed by that organization, is fighting to replace Russ Carnahan (D), representative of everything the tea party movement has been fighting against.

This was not supposed to be a competitive race.  The district was designed as a safe seat for Democrats, carving out pieces of St. Louis and the union stronghold of Jefferson County.  If it had not been a safe seat, Carnahan’s campaign would have been over a year ago when SEIU goons beat Kenneth Gladney at one of his health care town halls or a few months ago when the state passed the Missouri Health Care Freedom Act with 71% of the vote.

The 3rd District likes politicians that like to politic.  Traditionally, the representatives of this district have been fairly public figures that engage the voters.  This is not Russ Carnahan.  He cannot speak without his constituents laughing at him. He knows nothing about guns in a gun-friendly district.  He sends video of himself to speaker forums instead of showing up.  He does what he is told to do by Nancy Pelosi, and he sends taxpayer dollars outside of his district to support his brother’s windmill farm. (more…)

President Obama’s baseless attack on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce underscores the routine hyper-partisan attacks his administration has become known for. Obama’s allegation was that the Chamber has been using money from foreign members to influence this election.

Karl Rove, another target of the agitator/community-organizer-turned President of the United States, strongly refuted the accusations on Fox News Sunday yesterday.

If the president and the Center for American Progress, which initially leveled the “foreign money” charge, were serious, they’d investigate the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a brass knuckles, take-no-prisoners pro-Obama union that admitted in 2008 that it had an avenue to accept funds from “foreign nationals,” allowing them to have a voice in the American political process.

During the 2008 campaign, SEIU, the Obama campaign and other left-wing organizations created a “Fight the Smears” website, from which the following was taken:

What about foreign nationals who want to be involved but can’t give to COPE [Committee on Political Education]?

There are a large number of fully lawful immigrant members of SEIU who wish to participate through their union in the critical policy debates going on in the country, yet cannot fund or participate in SEIU COPE because they are foreign nationals.

For those immigrant members, as a lawful alternative to participation in SEIU COPE, SEIU has established a program encouraging its immigrant members to participate in policy advocacy outside of the electoral realm on issues such as immigration reform.

(more…)

This past July, in a formal request it filed with the prosecutors of Maryland state and the city of Baltimore, a left-leaning organization known as Velvet Revolution urged prosecutors to press criminal charges against James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles for what it says was a violation of Maryland’s Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act. But the letter also went a step further, naming Andrew Breitbart as a conspirator in masterminding the whole operation.

The accusation against Breitbart is of course patently false and baseless. No evidence exists to even suggest such an accusation, because it simply did not happen that way. Then again, this story’s not about Andrew Breitbart. It’s about Velvet Revolution, the source making the claim.

Progressives are also rallying behind Velvet Revolution for another of its most recent campaigns – AmericanCrossRoadsWatch, which, to the delight of familiar folks like Karoli at Crooks and Liars, has offered a $100,000 bounty “for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Karl Rove or any principal of American Crossroads for money laundering, election rigging, or felony campaign finance violations.” It features a WANTED poster:

Interesting, that the words “felony” and “Wanted” would be used. Again, considering the source.

You see, while Velvet Revolution has inspired quite a flurry of excitement from its progressive partners these days, who seem to be frolicking in their apparent muckraking efforts, their glaring omission and utter hypocrisy is absolutely astonishing. With so much dirt digging going on, one would be very hard pressed to believe that none of Velvet Revolution’s cheerleaders had any idea whatsoever that a convicted violent felon is one of its co-founders. In an environment today when the left has repeatedly falsely accused most opposition of being racist, hateful and violent, how convenient that progressives would fail to acknowledge the hypocrisy of their own implicit support of real violence and law-breaking.

The story behind Velvet Revolution begins with musician-activist turned immigrants’ rights defender turned voting rights activist, Brett Kimberlin, who also runs the “Justice Through Music Project (JTMP).” According to journalist Brad Friedman of the Brad Blog, he and Kimberlin co-founded Velvet Revolution together, a detail Friedman has specifically noted in a number of posts such as this one from 5/31/2007.

(more…)

Et tu, Karl?

Only Miles Monroe, Woody Allen’s character in Sleeper, could have missed the firestorm Karl Rove touched off during his appearance on Fox News’ Hannity show on Tuesday night. But for the benefit of Mr. Monroe and other hypnophiles out there, here it is:

It’s unusual to witness the typically even-tempered Rove go ballistic like this, but it’s downright discouraging to see the so-called “Architect” of so many successful Republican campaigns hell-bent to sabotage one of his own party. With architects like this, who needs building inspectors?

To make matters worse, with subsequent unrepentant appearances on Neil Cavuto’s Your World program and The O’Reilly Factor, the proudly obdurate Mr. Rove has become for the Democrats (and particularly for Delaware Senate hopeful Chris Coons) the proverbial gift that keeps giving. Rove only ever-so-slightly mollified his O’Donnell caveats on those appearances, more out of self-preservation than a spirit of selflessness. I guess we should be grateful that at least unlike Bill Ayers—the unrepentant Pentagon bomber and Weather Underground terrorist—Rove didn’t say he wished he’d done more to damage O’Donnell.

(more…)

John Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute, offers his thoughts on the GOP spat over Christine O’Donnell’s victory in Delaware. It’s a refreshing read.

Tuesday night, I happened to be watching live when Karl Rove fulminated on the Christine O’Donnell win in the Delaware GOP Senate primary.  You can see the full video here but I’ve provided a transcript (from Fox News) of some of the key passages below.  Among the things Rove said:

• “This is the inexplicable (emphasis added) one because Christine O’Donnell has come on here at the — very end of the campaign. There’s a huge turnout tonight in Delaware. The total was estimated to be 30,000 people going into the primary and has come out 56,000. She has dealt a defeat to one of the state’s longest, best-known, thought to be most-beloved political figures, a former governor and nine-term Republican Congressman in Mike Castle.”
• “One thing that Christine O’Donnell is now going to have to answer in the general election that she didn’t have to answer in the primary is her own checkered background….I’ve met her. I got to tell you, I wasn’t frankly impressed as her abilities as a candidate.”
• “And again, these serious questions about how does she make her living? Why did she mislead voters about her college education? How come it took nearly two decades to pay her college bills so she could get her college degree? How did she make a living? Why did she sue a well-known and well thought of conservative think tank?”

Here’s what Rove should have said:

(more…)

JournoList scandal is back and prepare for it to be a driving force in the news for quite some time. The Daily Caller published an article tonight indicating they’ve obtained emails from the JournoList and the initial details are as damning as we expected when the list-serv, founded by the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein in 2007, surfaced with the Dave Weigel kerfuffle last month.

Snippets from the article below, but make sure to read the whole thing at the Daily Caller and return to Big Journalism early and often as we unpack the details that emerge and track the fallout from this seminal event in the history of left-wing media bias. It’s unclear exactly what the Daily Caller has, but there’s certainly no indication from this article they’ve already laid all their cards out on the table.

According to records obtained by The Daily Caller, at several points during the 2008 presidential campaign a group of liberal journalists took radical steps to protect their favored candidate. Employees of news organizations including Time, Politico, the Huffington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Guardian, Salon and the New Republic participated in outpourings of anger over how Obama had been treated in the media, and in some cases plotted to fix the damage.

In one instance, Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent urged his colleagues to deflect attention from Obama’s relationship with Wright by changing the subject. Pick one of Obama’s conservative critics, Ackerman wrote, “Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists.” (more…)

t looks like President George W. Bush may have a pretty good birthday today. After all, this time last year the liberal media was terming him as “the worst president in American history.”

But a lot has changed since then.

History has proven that the challenges he faced during his presidency were much more daunting that anyone realized. In fact, shortly after the 2008 presidential election, Gallup ranked Bush’s popularity at only 27 percent and Obama’s at 70 percent.

Most of the country thought Obama would prove Bush totally incompetent, but since then a lot has happened, and Obama’s popularity, according to Gallup, has dropped 24 points to only 46 percent.

One of his lead generals has publicly criticized his handling of the war in Afghanistan and even former Bush senior adviser Karl Rove has equated the current administration’s handling of the BP disaster to of the BP disaster to what happened with Katrina. Some people have even suggested Obama’s handling of the BP disaster is much worse than the way the Bush administration handled Katrina. (more…)

[Note: This is the latest segment in an ongoing series about Code Pink and its co-founder Jodie Evans. Click here to read earlier articles.]

2008 campaign flier about then candidate Alan Grayson’s ties to Code Pink

Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood and Obama ally Jodie Evans with President Barack Obama, October 15, 2009.

Top Obama funder, terrorist supporter and Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans said in a radio interview last Friday night that Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) spoke with her earlier that day to express his support for Code Pink’s efforts to kidnap former adviser to President George W. Bush, Karl Rove.

Jodie Evans had made an attempt to handcuff and detain Rove that afternoon at a Las Vegas book signing appearance where Rove was promoting his recently released memoir, “Courage and Consequence: My Life As a Conservative in the Fight.”

This was the second attempt in recent weeks by Jodie Evans to kidnap Rove and hold him under the pretext of making a citizens arrest for what Code Pink calls war crimes (aka defending America in the war on terror.)

Though the previous attempt in Beverly Hills made national headlines, no mainstream media outlet reported about Jodie Evans’ deep ties to President Barack Obama, the Democrat party, terrorist groups and state sponsors of terrorism.

(more…)

[Note: This is the latest segment in an ongoing series about Code Pink and its co-founder Jodie Evans. Click here to read earlier articles.]

Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood and Obama ally Jodie Evans with President Barack Obama, October 15, 2009.

Top Obama funder, terrorist supporter and Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans assaulted former President George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove Monday evening at a Beverly Hills appearance by Rove to promote his new book, “Courage and Consequence: My Life As a Conservative in the Fight.”

Jodie Evans approached Rove while he was speaking to an audience at the Saban Theater and announced she was making a “citizen’s arrest” as she attempted to place metal handcuffs on him.

Video by KCAL-TV shows Rove pushing Jodie Evans away as she tries to cuff him. The audio picks up Rove saying to Jodie Evans, “No, no, no I didn’t say go ahead. I looked at…You get away!

Two men intervened and pulled Jodie Evans away from Rove.

Jodie Evans can be heard yelling at Rove, “Look what you did! You outed a CIA officer! You lied to take us to war! You ruined a country! Totally ruined a country!”

(more…)

Former Bush Senior Aide Karl Rove deserves credit for vindicating President Bush in his new auto-biography, “Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight.”

As one of the few liberals in America who has supported the war in Iraq (See www.honorfreedom.com) I found deep historical value in Rove’s account of what actually happened in the White House during the months leading up to the war, and I was inspired by his willingness to call out those Democratic senators who voted for the war, but later abandoned the president once it became unpopular.

On January 5, 2007 ABC News reported that 28 of the 77 senators who originally voted for the war said they would have voted differently. Not surprisingly, Evan Bayh, Joe Biden, John Edwards, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, all of whom challenged Bush for the presidency eventually turned against the war.

Of course, Bush’s post-9/11 popularity was 90 percent, the highest of any president in American history, and Democrats knew the only hope they had of winning was to undermine the morality of the war. Undermining the morality of the war meant that it didn’t matter if America achieved victory in Iraq.

(more…)

Did ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis say anything that was true in her recent speech at the National Press Club?

The embattled ACORN CEO deserved an Academy Award nomination for her virtuoso performance in which she not only depicted ACORN as an innocent victim but also as a whistleblower that tried to nip the subprime mortgage crisis in the bud.

She blamed everyone but herself: “We’ve seen this play before, whether it was the civil rights movement or whatever, when you organize poor people to have real power, what you do is often turned against you.”

She blamed Republicans: “The RNC…because we’ve been inflated as the boogeyman, raises almost $2 million a day, every day, and this form of modern-day ACORN McCarthyism has got to stop.”

Lewis’s statement about the Republican National Committee was immediately torpedoed by RNC chairman Michael Steele who defended ACORN.

(more…)

Over at the American Spectator, Big Government Contributor Matthew Vadum writes:

Newly discovered evidence shows the radical advocacy group ACORN has a man in the Obama White House.This power behind the throne is longtime ACORN operative Patrick Gaspard. He holds the title of White House political affairs director, the same title Karl Rove held in President Bush’s White House.

Evidence shows that years before he joined the Obama administration, Gaspard was ACORN boss Bertha Lewis’s political director in New York.

 Lewis, the current “chief organizer” or CEO of ACORN, was head of New York ACORN from at least 1994 through 2008, when she took over as national leader of ACORN. With Gaspard at work in the White House, Lewis might as well be speaking to President Obama through an earpiece as he goes about his daily business ruining the country.

Read the whole story here.