Jonathan Chait, at NYMag’s Daily Intel, on “How Citizens United Created Newt“:
…Money is the primary mechanism that parties use to herd voters toward the choices the elites would prefer them to make. The nomination of George W. Bush offers a classic example. Bush and his network had organized so many Republicans to donate so much money that the contest was essentially over well before a vote had been cast. The Bush fund-raising network didn’t involve a handful of billionaires in a room. It required thousands of fairly affluent people working together.
__
In 2000, the Bush network froze challenger John McCain out of party fund-raising networks. Now, the GOP is trying to do this again on behalf of Romney:If Gingrich does win, veteran GOP strategists tell CNN to expect pressure on Senate Minority Leaders Mitch McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner and other Republican leaders to call key GOP donors and ask them not to contribute to Gingrich’s campaign.
Ten years ago, this sort of edict would have suffocated Gingrich. But under the present system, Gingrich can simply have a single extremely wealthy supporter, Sheldon Adelson, write a series of $5 million checks. “Winning Our Future” is Gingrich’s “independent” PAC, and it’s an entire shadow campaign, complete with a ground operation in addition to advertising. Adelson’s money isn’t enough for Gingrich to attain parity with Romney – he’s probably being outspent at least two to one – but it is keeping him alive…
Click the link — but not if you’ve just eaten — for today’s scariest news photo, demonstrating that there may be more than geopolitical reasons why Adelson has ten-million-dollars-and-counting’s worth of fellow-feeling for the Swollen Amphibian. (It’s a terrible thing when Gingers go wrong.)
middlewest
I just finished watching this video of 16-year-old first-amendment activist Jessica Ahlqist in which she reveals that she is escorted to class by armed police officers because she has received so many death threats from Christians in her school. Sick.
I’m getting really tired of the religions of peace. When are all you “true Christians” gonna clean up the shit in your house?
David Koch
♫♫♫
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Newt on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell.
(and Newt’s on the moon)
I can’t pay no doctor bill.
(but Newt’s on the moon)
Ten years from now I’ll be payin’ still.
(while Newt’s on the moon)
The man jus’ upped my rent las’ night.
(’cause Newt’s on the moon)
No hot water, no toilets, no lights.
(but Newt’s on the moon)
I wonder why he’s uppi’ me?
(’cause Newt’s on the moon?)
I wuz already payin’ ‘im fifty a week.
(with Newt on the moon)
Taxes takin’ my whole damn check,
Junkies makin’ me a nervous wreck,
The price of food is goin’ up,
An’ as if all that shit wuzn’t enough:
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Newt on the moon)
Her face an’ arm began to swell.
(but Newt’s on the moon)
Was all that money I made las’ year
(for Newt on the moon?)
How come there ain’t no money here?
(Hmm! Newt’s on the moon)
Y’know I jus’ ’bout had my fill
(of Newt on the moon)
I think I’ll sen’ these doctor bills,
Airmail special
(to Newt on the moon)
Comrade Mary
Yeah, RIP Gil-Scott Heron.
Hill Dweller
@middlewest: Reminds me of the old Bill Hicks bit about asking Christians in Alabama to forgive him after his set, only to find himself hanging in a tree.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Uh, oh. It looks like the Indians have a bowler after all. Not a great way to finish Day 3 for the Australians.
hamletta
AL, I saw that piece earlier today. It’s the epitome of “Be careful of what you wish for.”
freelancer
@middlewest:
All she did was object that a purely Christian tapestry was being prominently displayed in her very public school. I for one feel like the superintendent of her district hasn’t been heard loudly enough.
Also, Adelson, never heard of him, Lou Dobbs and Donald Trump have been out of the news for a spell. I smell a dirty secret between them.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
And the Poms dismiss Pakistan for 257 before drinks in the first session of Day 2. Looks like it’s going to be a long week on the subcontinent.
The prophet Nostradumbass
Adelson, this is the clown behind the Venetian in Las Vegas, yes?
Jebediah
If any of the Wilco fans here haven’t seen it yet, here is a video for one of the songs on the new album done up Popeye style.
MikeJ
@The prophet Nostradumbass: Hard to believe that renting an empty hall and letting geeks show computers to each other could make one person that much money, isn’t it?
Anoniminous
Completely unexpected.
PPP has Gingrich winning in Minnesota.
Roboman won Minnesota in ’08 rather handily (41%, IIRC) and I expected he would have repeated. If Gingrich starts winning in the Mid West the chances for a Convention fight increase dramatically.
Yutsano
@MikeJ: I have a confession. Nigella Lawson is making me severely question my sexuality.
Citizen_X
Damn, that’s a combover to make Mitch Daniels green with envy.
FormerSwingVoter
Open thread, right?
So, my GF of 12 years left me today. For good. We were going to go ring shopping this spring.
Yeah, so I’m pretty much a train wreck right now. Distractions would be nice.
Suffern ACE
@Anoniminous: People almost elected governor Emmer. What positions did he have that are out of line with Newt?
Jebediah
@FormerSwingVoter:
Aw, fuck. Sorry to hear that.
David Koch
@FormerSwingVoter: Don’t despair, you can always stalk her.
Yutsano
@FormerSwingVoter: Too fresh a wound for my really good revenge bits. Hopefully your heart heals quickly.
gene108
Watched the Ahlquist videos. That’s is an incredibly articulate person, especially for a 16 year old.
@Anoniminous: Maybe Virginia’s primary may decide things, since Newt’s not on the ballot in his current home state. If Romney doesn’t roll over Santorum and Paul, in VA, I don’ think he’s going to win. There just isn’t enough support.
Martin
I think Gingrich is going to pull it off. Romney’s tax proposals in light of his returns are just toxic given the direction Obama went in the state of the union.
And the GOP is going to get fucking annihilated with Gingrich at the top. I swear Nancy Smash is just bating the GOP with her suggestions that she has dirt on Newt. How can the GOP not rally behind Newt with that out there?
WaterGirl
@FormerSwingVoter: Sadly, I have seen that before. Talking about rings and/or wedding dates seems to be the trigger for some people to bolt. One minute you’re planning your future together, the next minute your future is gone. I am so sorry. On the other hand, if they’re gonna bolt, better today than on your wedding day. Small consolation.
Martin
@FormerSwingVoter: Sorry to hear that man.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@FormerSwingVoter: Sorry, man. Not much else to say. If you want to show up in Mankato this weekend for Gopher women’s hockey, I’ll be happy to try to entertain.
wilfred
Adelson got behind Gingrich shortly after Gingrich said the Palestinians were an invented people – something even Romney criticized him for.
If Gingrich gets the nomination, and I think he will, his pro-Israeli rhetoric will be the driving force behind any foreign policy discussion – pushing Obama further toward a similar Israel First posture.
It’s called hedging your bets.
WaterGirl
@Martin: They talk about how important organization is, but at this point people are voting with their gut, mostly based on religion (Santourum or Romney) or a visceral dislike of a candidate (Romney or Gingrich). I would almost put Ron Paul in the religion category, if you think of religion loosely enough.
We may get screwed by citizens united in the general, but for now, I am enjoying watching the republican candidates destroy each other.
MikeJ
@WaterGirl:
Better to bolt beforehand. But it still sucks.
WaterGirl
@gene108: If I wanted Gingrich and he wasn’t on the ballot, I would vote for santorum or Paul in order to stop Romney. We will be able to see if that happens, as long as at least one of them is still in the race by then.
WaterGirl
@MikeJ: It sucks beyond belief. It’s like being run over by a truck.
hamletta
@middlewest: As a church-goin’ woman, I get real annoyed at this kind of comment. It’s not your fault, though.
The presiding bishop of my church, the ELCA, was also the president of the Lutheran World Federation for several years. His name is Rev. Mark Hanson. Ever heard of him?
Probably not. Because the media rolodexes have only a few cards under “Christian,” and they’re the usual suspects: Robertson, Perkins, Donohue.
Ever see any mainline Protestants on your cable news? Any Quakers? Any liberal Catholics like Andrew Greeley?
Of course not! In our media’s red/blue worldview, Christianity is on the red side, and anyone who doesn’t fit into that box is ignored.
So someone like you, who isn’t particularly interested in The Church, only sees these assholes, and of course you think that’s the whole of my faith. It isn’t.
My church recently voted to accept gay clergy who are in committed relationships. That’s a huge deal. Our bishop made an “It Gets Better” video.
Liberal Christians are speaking, they just aren’t heard.
hamletta
@FormerSwingVoter: Ugh. I’m so sorry.
Don’t be surprised if your skin hurts for the next few months.
Here, have this baby panda video.
Sarah, Proud and Tall
@Yutsano:
Resist the shameless plastic hussy.
David Koch
@FormerSwingVoter: You could always enter into an gingrich-type open marriages.
The elite, liberal, secular, saul alinsky media won’t admit this, but there’s just been a rash of break-ups ever since New York legalized gay marriage.
First Demi Moore, then Kim Kardashian, and now Katy Perry and Heidi Klum.
MikeJ
@David Koch: And yet my letters offering to comfort these women keep coming back with restraining orders.
dogwood
@hamletta:
Thanks for your comment. This is something not only left -leaning bloggers and commenters need to hear, but something the media need to hear. It has astounded me for decades that the majority of Christians in this country who are not pentecostal or evangelical have let these politicized Christians become the voice of the faith without demanding equal time.
BGK
Totally superficial of me, but as I’ve been slowly going bald for 10 years I notice these things. What is it with billionaires an appalling hair? Clowns like Trump and Adelson could have best-in-universe toups, but they look like this. Some thinking that the gravity well of their money warps the local norms of appearance?
The way the seams pucker on his suit coat says he needs to can his tailor also.
Karen
I am sick to my stomach over an article at People.com about Mrs. Obama’s dress. They estimate the dress cost $2,400 and the vitriol in those comments. One of them said she looked like Sasquatch. Another person (if you can call them that) said that the foodstamp deadbeats need to kill themselves. Some people were reasonable, explaining that more than likely the designer lent her the dress like they do at the Awards shows for the celebrities. But you’d think she committed the worst crime and the reason I feel sick is that Newt Gingrich’s people are the ones who will be fired up enough to vote (chances are he may be the nominee) during the general election because they want to get the N OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE more than they want anything else in the world. Obama’s people have been flocking to Ron Paul so who will be left for him. Once Ron Paul is out of the GOP race, all those Paulians will just stay home.
I know, I’m an idiot but I still cringe and want to vomit at the blatant racism I’m seeing. Not only because I find it repulsive but because hate motivates and in the general election liberals have said they’ll stay home just like they did in 2010, PUMFA!
Hate wins. Period.
Lojasmo
@Anoniminous:
Fxt
dogwood
@Karen:
Stay calm. There’s a very small internet troll army that scout the web for these types of articles and then they pounce. There’s also a small army of liberals who do the same thing. Swearing not to vote etc. These people are insignificant. Democratic turnout in 2010 wasn’t all about how disappointed and disillusioned Dems were. It was pretty standard for a midterm election. It’s just that Republican voters were highly excited and their numbers were much larger than what is typical. The same was true in 06. Democratic turnout was unusually high, while Republican turnout was fairly normal. Interpreting the mood of America by reading website comments is pretty ridiculous. Every bit of actual scientific polling data confirms that a good majority of Americans like and admire the President, his wife and his entire family.
Xenos
@dogwood: I would agree with Karen, though, that there is something very dispiriting and depressing about the criticism of Michelle – it is completely uncalled-for, and deeply racist and misogynistic. And there are serious, well-funded efforts being made to push it into the general discourse.
It is fucking disgusting.
Schlemizel
So, if Salamander were to accidentally win the nomination, this means all those fat cats would still be able to max out their donations to him because they had only given to Willard? Not sure if that is as big a deal in the brave new world the USSC has thrust upon us but I don’t like the sound of it none the less.
Schlemizel
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
If you are going to be in Mankato for GWH there is a better than average chance we already know each other. Are you planing on meeting Dave for Pizza before the game?
Schlemizel
@FormerSwingVoter:
Its been nearly 40 years since I had my heart ripped out & stomped on and I have no doubt the pain would still be quite acute if it were not for the fact that it allowed me to meet the best wife and lover I could ever hope for. I really hate that “door closed, window opened” crap but in this case it really was true. I not only survived but I benefited. Its no consolation now but heres to you finding someone better for you.
dogwood
@Xenos:
That’s their intent – to dispirit, depress and disgust. We have two choices. We can continually read these comments and get upset, or we can ignore them. I choose the latter. They don’t deserve the attention we give them.
WereBear (itouch)
@FormerSwingVoter: Sorry to hear that. Only advice I have is to mourn early and often. It helps.
Ben Cisco
@Karen: You must remember in our society, even now, women are marginalized. For these pond scum, Michelle hits the trifecta: Black, Female, Democrat. They talk about her like she isn’t human because THEY DON’T BELIEVE SHE IS. Also, the Ferengi media only wants attention, not truth, so for them your disgust is OK – you looked. Their hideous misogyny and racism is OK – they looked. THEY DON’T CARE SO LONG AS YOU LOOK.
__
The bad news is, we have to beat both the NeoConfederates and their Ferengi enablers. The good news is, we’re going to.
Chuck Butcher
@FormerSwingVoter:
Hoping for distractions, then.
I have to wonder if the elites bashing Newt isn’t good for his vote percentage. If I were a GOPer I think I’d be climbing all over that one.
Chris
@hamletta:
This.
WereBear
I completely agree, so Occupy Something and get them heard. Being a Liberal means you should be able to round up some people and get the word out in NYC… where all the studios are.
I’ve been saying this for a couple of years now; don’t let the Southern Baptists represent Protestantism. It’s not fair.
Valdivia
@FormerSwingVoter:
totally late but just wanted to say: that totally sucks. we’re here for you!
Emma
@Karen: No. It doesn’t. It just makes us want to vomit.
In moments like these I am comforted by this: Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
gelfling545
@Karen: Mostly I don’t read blog comments. This place is one of my few exceptions and sometimes I even have to “take a break” from that when the trolling makes it unreadable. On the rare occasions I do vary from this policy, my standard reply to the hateful is “Would your mother be proud of that comment?” It worked well when I was teaching middle school and the mentality is the same.
Exurban Mom
Wait, I thought the GOP’s highest priority was making Obama a one-term president?
And on the subject of gingers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw
cmorenc
@WaterGirl:
Better now than for your SO to get a jittery case of buyer’s remorse six months into the marriage, and make you go through a year’s descent into relationship Hell, with your best efforts and energy spent trying to fix things resulting in spiraling frustration and bafflement.
She’s changed from whatever she was, whatever you thought she was, and she’s not the person you were in love with any more. It helps to realize that the person you’re mourning a lost love-relationship died somewhere along the way without your realizing it, and they were replaced by an imposter clone who stayed around for awhile more out of inertia than commitment. Mourn the passing of the girl you used to know, but not the one you really didn’t anymore who just left. You needed to get married to the latter like you needed a hole in the head. Count yourself lucky there wasn’t quite enough inertia for the imposter to coast into marriage with you before friction dissipated it down enough to make life with her Hell for awhile before the inevitable split-up.
FormerSwingVoter
Thanks for the support, guys, it really means a lot to me.
Monkey Business
Pre-Citizens United, this would be down to just Romney. He’d be killing the other guys. Now? Santorum, Gingrich, and Paul are being kept alive by SuperPACs.
Welcome to the era of the Zombie Campaign.
chrome agnomen
@Yutsano:
she’s certainly what we used to call back on the farm–a good milker.
Groucho48
I haven’t seen any Megan McArdle mocking in a bit. She has an article out pondering just how much Warren Buffet’s secretary must be earning. In an interview with both Buffett and the secretary, the secretary’s marginal tax rate was said to be 35.8%. McArdle can’t imagine how the rate could be that high unless she was making close to $200000 a year.
Well, about 30 seconds of googling shows that the marginal tax rate for a family earning 34500-83600 is 25%. Add the payroll tax, which Buffett said was included in the 35.8% figure, and you get 37.4% as the marginal rate. I am guessing she also had a bit of capital gains, which lowered her tax rate a bit to 35.8%.
McArdle does ponder payroll taxes for a moment, but, says “The problem is that if we impute the employer half of the payroll taxes to her, then we should impute corporate income taxes to Warren Buffet, at which point he has nothing like a 17.4% effective tax rate; more like a 40+% tax rate.” How absurd is that?
She then ponders state taxes for a bit, for no discernible reason, and concludes…
I don’t know. Is a family earning somewhere between 34500-83600 really that unusual?
shep
Chait is wrong (quelle surprise). Citizen’s United was about the rights of corporations. Adelson may feel safer as a result of the center-right establishment sanctioning of massive election manipulation by the super rich but he could still do what he is doing under previous jurisprudence.
http://swampland.time.com/2012/01/26/what-sheldon-adelsons-gingrich-gifts-say-about-money-in-politics/
El Cid
On the plus side, if the GOP big money establishment successfully closes ranks against Gingrich, it may dedicate him even more to follow his gigantic and vengeful ego and collect as many dollars as he can (as quickly as he can) from Adelson and the like and then go after that GOP establishment.
Gingrich isn’t much more than a walking embodiment of grifting, vanity, hubris, bitterness, and envy, so hopefully this would serve for him as motivation.