Headlines - Thursday January 26

"Newt Gingrich's ex-wife went on nightline and said that he wanted to have an open marriage. This is the second wife, talking about him when he was fooling around with what became the third wife. Newt wanted apparently to have his wife and his marriage and also women on the side giving him oral sex. This way he could be nice and relaxed when he went to work and accused blacks of feeling entitled." –Bill Maher

 

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Romney gave $100 million to his sons and paid zero gift tax.

 

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Buffett just seems like such a good guy:

Buffett, a Democrat and Obama-supporter, had one question for Mitt Romney: "Do you think the tax system should be perpetuated?"

He doesn't blame the former Massachusetts governor or any of the ultra-rich for paying lower tax rates than most Americans and challenged Congress to make a change.

"I don't pay hardly any payroll taxes," Buffett said. "Gov. Romney hardly pays any payroll taxes, Newt Gingrich hardly pays any payroll taxes. Debbie pays lots of payroll taxes."

He lashed out at assertions from many Republican leaders that the "Buffett rule" is class warfare.

"If this is a war, my side has the nuclear bomb," Buffett said. "We have K Street. … We have Wall Street. Debbie doesn't have anybody. I want a government that is responsive to the people who got the short straw in life."

Of course he is 100% accurate.

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It's hard to believe (no, actually it isn't), but Willard and his number 1 wife own or owned millions of dollars worth of a Goldman Sachs investment fund invested heavily in mortgage-backed obligations. And the current owners of those mortgage debts began foreclosure proceedings against thousands of Floridians. Whoopsie! 

 

Bob Cesca:

I'm not going to shame Mitt Romney for doing business with Goldman since the bank is so large, however not everyone can say they are invested in an "elite division" — gasp! Elite! — only open to those who have $10 million in their pocket to invest. And given that $10 million is only half of Romney's yearly income, it's another sign that he has absolutely nothing in common with average Americans. It's also why he struggles to appear as though he does.

Aside from being invested in an "elite" division of Goldman Sachs, a new report from ThinkProgress also indicates his investments in Goldman may have benefited from the foreclosure crisis and bailout funds.

Along with his investments in Bain Capital funds linked to offshore tax havens, the Romneys have large investments in the Goldman Sachs Strategic Income Fund (institutional class). The firm's March 2011 annual report for the fund notes that about 8 percent of the fund is invested in banks and 24.5 percent is invested in mortgage-backed obligations. Romney's form says he has invested between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000 in the fund and his wife Ann has invested an additional $1 million-plus. Since the 2008 economic meltdown and the enactment of the Troubled Asset Relief Fund, this fund has done quite well, growing 7.88 percent between April 2010 and March 2011.

Woops! It just so happens that Florida was hit particularly hard by the recession, however this could also be very damaging to Romney heading into Nevada where the wrath of the foreclosure crisis was greatest.

Question: Why should we Let Detroit Go Bankrupt while investments made by Mitt Romney are rescued? Does Mitt Romney secretly love bail outs?

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Newt Gingrich, pandering in Florida: "By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American," Gingrich said to applause. He said the development would include commercial and private efforts, and will make apparent, "we clearly have the capacity that Chinese and the Russians will never come anywhere close to us." Gingrich also said he would push to develop propulsion technology that would get man to Mars. He emphasized that it doesn't have to be expensive, exploration in partnership with private companies can lower the cost.

 

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Today former Cuban president Fidel Castro weighed in on the GOP field of candidates.

 

Castro said he always assumed the candidates would try to outdo each other on the issue of Cuba, but that he was nonetheless appalled by the level of debate. "The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is — and I mean this seriously — the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been," said the retired Cuban leader, who has dueled with 11 U.S. administrations since his 1959 revolution.

 

What could you possibly add to that?

 

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Westboro Endorses Obama

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Timothy Phelps tells HuffPo:

"He's a liar, thief, and adulterer... that's Newt Gingrich, the so-called "champion" of the conservative party. These people claim to be Christian, New Gingrich and Mitt Romney and some of them others. They aren't pure followers of Jesus Christ. I wouldn't trust [any] of them with a handful of change to go get me some bubble gum. There's nothing of any value in [any] of those human beings. I would rather have Obama."

Wow. And they think THEY are followers of christ?

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"You have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and making $20 million for no work, to have some fantasy this far from reality." -Newt Gingrich on Mitt Romney's immigration policy

Keep going GOP candidates! You're doing great!

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Krugman: Finding the truth

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So what do you say to a news reporter when asked how you'll improve relations with the Latino community after four of your police officers were just busted by the FBI for racial profiling? Well, you probably wouldn't say this.

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Former Bushie, Mitch Daniels Attacks Obama for Not Fixing the Mess He Helped Make

And here's Charles Pierce on his "fuzzy-wuzzy math"

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"Lemon tree very pretty and

the lemon flower is sweet

But the fruit of the poor lemon

is impossible to eat."

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Niger, El Salvador Beat United States in Press Freedom Last Year

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Wonkette:

Were you, like us, very ultra super secretly sighing to yourself — under your breath when you were absolutely sure no one could hear you — hasn't this campaign season gotten sorta boring since Michele Bachmann dropped out? WELL SIGH NO MORE: her surrealist sideshow is coming BACK following Michele's announcement today that she will run for re-election to Congress! Will the voters of Minnesota's 6th District once again choose to be represented by a whacked out, pill-snarfing lunatic screamer over any other available adult human? True, it's not like America will be in any DANGER if she wins again — she never actually does anything in Congress, ever. She is more like very expensive, taxpayer-funded entertainment. But hey, maybe Minnesota's 6th District is feeling flush again this year? UPDATE: HAHA oh god we love it, Michele Bachmann has no idea what words mean in English and went on Fox News to qualify her initial statement of "yes" with more of a "maybe definitely yes" declaration of non-candidacy candidacy. Who knows!

The AP reports:

"I'm looking forward to coming back and bringing a strong, powerful voice to Washington, D.C.," Bachmann said.

Bachmann will be a formidable candidate in Minnesota's 6th District, where other Republican hopefuls had stood aside until she made a decision on running for re-election. Some experts had speculated that Bachmann might instead turn to a career in talk media.

TALK MEDIA!!!! No, that is only for second-tier entertainers that the public doesn't want to pay for with taxpayer money, like Sarah Palin. [AP]