The unforgiven Last night Bill Maher defended Clint Eastwood’s performance at the Republican National Convention. “He killed,” Maher said, pointing out that we’re always saying how scripted and dull conventions are. Here was an unscripted, unpredictable moment where a man and a chair brought great mirth to the convention goers. Maher knows firsthand that making strangers laugh is nearly as […]

Plain talk about a brazen liar

Jennifer Granholm has been positively on fire lately.

I am SO loving this takedown of Paul Ryan and his RNC speech:

“We will not duck the tough issues, we will lead,” Ryan promised last night. He mentioned leading and leadership eight times in his speech. But he’d better bone up on what leadership is all about. More than anything, “leadership” is about honesty.

The No. 1 quality people look for in leaders, James Kouzes and Barry Posner state in their iconic book, “The Leadership Challenge,” in which they cite more than 40 years of extensive surveys across six continents, is honesty. People want to trust that their leaders will do what they say they will do. Of course we want to believe we will not be duped. Of course we want to be led honestly.

I couldn’t help thinking lastnight, we have been sold a bill of goods by a slick-haired, earnest-looking, fast-talking salesman. Harold Hill, move over. Apologies to Meredith Wilson of “The Music Man” fame, but if these guys win — we surely got trouble, my friends. Trouble with a capital “T” and that rhymes with “P” and that stands for “Paul.”

Ssss-NAP!

We can’t wait…

President Obama is smart enough to know that we can dramatically lower our dependence on foreign fossil fuels through energy efficiency and conservation. Yesterday, he signed an Executive Order intended to further that process by accelerating investments in industrial energy efficiency.

“Today, we are taking another step to strengthen American manufacturing by boosting energy efficiency for businesses across the nation,” said President Obama. “This action will cut costs, increase efficiency, and help our businesses create strong, middle class jobs. We’ll continue to do everything we can to put more people back to work and build an economy that lasts.”

Click through for details.

Looking back, not FORWARD

By now you’ve surely heard about, if not watched, Clint Eastwood’s tragic self-embarrassment at the Republican National Convention last night. It was painful to watch. “Cringe-inducing” comes to mind. As does somewhat guilty LOLing.

The best response we saw came from Rachel Maddow. When MSNBC cut back to her after Eastwood’s “performance”, she was uncharacteristically speechless, stammering and clearly not processing what she had just seen. Much like the rest of us.

After I DID process it, which took a good night’s sleep, I realized what a perfect metaphor this was for the Republican Party and for the Romney/Ryan ticket.

Video and commentary after the jump.

Can’t buy me looo-ooove…

Republicans have had their asses handed to them by the Obama campaign in terms of social media since 2007. We know it. They know it. Everyone knows it.

But Mitt Romney knows how to fix things like that. With money. He buys popularity. Tonight, the night of Romney’s nomination acceptance speech, one of the trending topics is #RomneyRyan2012.

He built bought that.

Click through for details.

Mitt Romney: Shameless and shameful

Rolling Stone has a blockbuster piece online that will appear in the September 13 issue. In it, journalist Tim Dickinson reveals that, while at the helm of Bain Capital, Mitt Romney (a) nearly managed the firm into bankruptcy, (b) received a massive government bailout and then, (c) swindled taxpayers out of at least $10 million after basically blackmailing the FDIC.

It’s a piece of journalistic excellence that is likely to break this campaign wide open. The whole scandalous story after the jump.

Welcome aboard, media friends

Yesterday, Greg Sargent at The Plum Line wrote a terrific piece titled “Call out the lies right in your headlines”. He, as well as others, are ratcheting up the call for our main media sources to start calling what Mitt Romney and his campaign are doing: blatantly lying. Making things up and then repeating them over and over again despite being debunked and fact-checked as false Pinocchios with their pants on fire.

It’s starting to work. Proof — lots and lots and lots of proof — after the jump.

Ryan and Romney prove the only thing Republicans have learned since Bush is how to lie better Howard Kurtz is the one “media critic” in America with a TV show. And, better than anyone, his take on Paul Ryan’s speech last night typifies the media’s reaction what has become standard practice from the right wing. He called Ryan’s speech a […]

Gretchen Driskell embodies what Mark Ouimet pretends to be

As Democrats in Michigan attempt to retake control over the House of Representatives, one of the most closely-watched races is in the 52nd District, the area west of Ann Arbor. Long a Democratic stronghold, it went to Republican Mark Ouimet in the 2010 Republican wave. The 2010 races was pure gutter politics on the part of the Republicans who ran no fewer than five increasingly offensive and nearly slanderous robocalls against Democrat Christine Green.

This year, another Democratic woman will face the Republican smear effort in the 52nd — Saline Mayor Gretchen Driskell. Driskell is less a politician than she is a true public servant. As Saline’s first woman mayor and longest-serving mayor, she’s been on the front lines of making her community the kind of place where people want to be to raise kids, start a business and enjoy the city’s charm. She’s served the community for over 20 years spending six years on the city council and another 14 as mayor.

I sat down for an with Driskell this week to discuss her candidacy. Please click through for the interview.

Tuna fish! Tuna fish, I tellzya!

It was fun listening to Ann Romney talk about her husband last night. Anytime you have to be “humanized” (go ahead: Google it), you know you’re in deep doo. Ann talked about them eating macaroni and tuna fish. How their desk was made out of a door on saw horses. It was all so very “poor” sounding.

Then came today. The very next day after Ann Romney tried to convince us that Mitt Romney really isn’t a super-wealthy multi-millionaire, he had himself a little donor meet-and-greet on board a yacht registered in — you guessed it — the Cayman Islands.

I’m not kidding, I swear.

There’s more after the jump.

We’re all in this together

We Are the People Michigan is asking for volunteers for the Labor Day parade in Detroit. This is part of the effort to make sure the Protect Our Jobs ballot proposal passes in November and secures the right to collectively bargain in our state constitution.

If you are available, this is guaranteed to be a truly fun and rewarding day. You’ll meet amazing organizers, activists and passionate folks from the labor movement while you help make sure that the drive to crush our unions is stopped.

Details on how you can get involved in this fun and important effort after the jump.