Rachel Maddow's Blog, page 3348

Maine's LePage thinks Obama 'hates white people'

Associated Press

It's been a whole week since Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) made offensive comments that spurred a broader controversy, so I suppose we were due for another.

Gov. Paul LePage told a group of Republicans last week that President Obama "hates white people," according to two state lawmakers who say they heard the remark directly.

The governor made the comment during a Maine Republican Party fundraiser on Aug. 12 at the home of John and Linda Fortier in Belgrade.... The lawmakers, both Republicans, confirmed the comment when asked by a Portland Press Herald reporter but asked that their names be withheld for fear of political retribution..... One of the lawmakers who confirmed LePage's comment said he supports the governor's policies but is tired of being asked to defend controversial statements.

According to the Portland Press Herald's sources, LePage argued that President Obama should highlight his biracial heritage, but he chooses not to because -- you guessed it -- Obama just hates white people.

Ordinarily, it's best to be skeptical of second-hand quotes from anonymous sources, but in this case, it's awfully easy to believe the accuracy of the report. Even if we put aside incidents such as LePage telling the NAACP to kiss his "butt," the Portland Press Herald's sources are Republicans, not LePage's partisan critics.

And in an interesting twist, this wasn't the worst news for Maine Republicans yesterday.

Rather, this was.

One of Maine's three voting members of the Republican National Committee and six other members of the Maine State Republican Committee have resigned and left the party, lambasting Gov. Paul LePage, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and other Republicans for abandoning what they said are key principles for libertarians and conservatives. [...]

They criticized Republican state lawmakers for supporting a budget containing tax increases, charged Boehner with "cowardly leadership" and said recent decisions by the LePage administration show that "the Republican Party has lost its way." [...]

The decision by Willis and the others to "unenroll" from the Maine Republican Party reflects continuing discord among Republicans in Maine and nationally as the party tries to rebuild after stinging losses in last year's elections.

The state GOP is clearly in great shape going into statewide elections next year, isn't it?

Ted Cruz renounces Canadian citizenship

Associated Press

How many countries is Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) a citizen of?

It seemed a little silly over the weekend when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) felt compelled to release his birth certificate. The right-wing Texan was born in Calgary, Alberta, to an American mother, which immediately made Cruz an American citizen. With the senator apparently eyeing national office, and with much of the right fascinated by birth certificates in recent years, the move was apparently intended to resolve any questions about eligibility.

But in this case, it didn't work out the way Cruz hoped. The Dallas Morning News noted that, as a technical matter, Cruz had dual citizenship -- he was an American by virtue of his American mother, but he was also Canadian the moment he was born on Canadian soil. Cruz could, in theory, obtain a Canadian passport, register to vote in Canada, and even run for Parliament.

And so, late yesterday, Cruz filled out this form (pdf), renounced any claim to Canadian citizenship, and released a written public statement.

"Given the raft of stories today about my birth certificate, it must be a slow news day. The facts of my birth are straightforward: I was born in 1970 in Calgary, Canada. Because my mother was a U.S. citizen, born in Delaware, I was a U.S. citizen by birth. When I was a kid, my Mom told me that I could choose to claim Canadian citizenship if I wanted. I got my U.S. passport in high school.

"Because I was a U.S. citizen at birth, because I left Calgary when I was 4 and have lived my entire life since then in the U.S., and because I have never taken affirmative steps to claim Canadian citizenship, I assumed that was the end of the matter.

"Now the Dallas Morning News says that I may technically have dual citizenship. Assuming that is true, then sure, I will renounce any Canadian citizenship. Nothing against Canada, but I'm an American by birth and as a U.S. Senator, I believe I should be only an American."

What a strange story. Ted Cruz, the Harvard Law School grad and Supreme Court attorney, didn't realize he had dual citizenship until two days ago? Because his Mom told him not to worry about it?

I have no doubts about Cruz's eligibility, though I have to admit, seeing conservatives wring their hands about a "foreign-born" candidate is awfully amusing given the circumstances.

Between the right and a hard place

When it comes to the federal health care system, congressional Republicans have found themselves in an increasingly awkward position. Their far-right base and allied right-wing activist groups continue to push GOP lawmakers to shut down the government -- and quite possibly default on U.S. debts -- in the hopes of sabotaging the Affordable Care Act.

And yet, many Americans who recognize the benefits of "Obamacare" continue to push in the opposite direction. We saw this two weeks ago in North Carolina, last week in Florida, and yesterday, this amazing clip out of Nevada was released by American Bridge.

Watch on YouTube

In this clip, we see a small business owner in Las Vegas who had some straightforward questions for Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.): "Why would you oppose the ACA at every turn?" and "Why would you oppose something that's helping me now?"

When local events erupted during the 2009 August recess, months before the Affordable Care Act became law, the right found it fairly easy to exploit public confusion -- throw around some garbage talking points about "death panels" and "socialism," and wait for scared people to go berserk.

But as Greg Sargent explained well yesterday, " We're a long way from the anti-Obamacare town halls of the magical Summer of '09." The public is starting to get a better sense of the benefits of the law, how it will help them and their families, and town-hall meetings that used to serve as opportunities to feed red meat to Fox viewers are suddenly becoming opportunities for mainstream Americans to ask Republican lawmakers aloud, "Why should my family suffer because you have a partisan axe to grind?"

Also note just how few answers GOP lawmakers have in response.

For the right, Republicans are eager to boast about voting to repeal the federal health care law several dozen times, but conservatives are unimpressed -- the votes were a vanity exercise with no practical value for anyone on either side of the argument.

For the left, Republicans, as we see with Joe Heck in the above video, have tired cliches and shallow talking points about the number of pages in the legislation.

And for everyone in between, as we've seen in Nevada, Kentucky, and North Carolina, Republicans offer reassurances that there are some provisions in "Obamacare" that the GOP likes and wants to keep, which makes it that much more difficult to understand why those same Republicans have voted literally dozens of times to eliminate the Affordable Care Act in its entirety -- including the parts they now say they support.

All the while, Republicans have said for nearly four years they're ready to present a credible alternative the reform law that'll work even better than that darned Democratic version, but we're still waiting, and by all appearances, the party still doesn't have an actual health care policy.

Can't anybody here play this game?

Morning Maddow: August 20

Some San Diegans rally in support of Mayor Bob Filner.

Chief Justice John Roberts

Justice Scalia accuses the court of "inventing new minorities."

A federal judge says it's ok for California to force-feed hunger-striking prison inmates.

Another Colorado county gets ready to vote on secession this November.

Josh Rogin: Obama Admin is temporarily cutting off aid to Egypt.

The spiritual leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has reportedly been arrested.

VP Biden's son Beau is in the hospital.

The Fukushima nuclear plant has leaked 300 tons of radioactive water.

Ahead on the 8/19 Maddow show

Tonight's guests include:

State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, (D) Michigan, represents part of Detroit
State Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, (D) North Carolina, resigning from her position in order to help citizens in North Carolina obtain proper voter ID

Here is tonight's soundtrack! And here's executive producer Bill Wolff with a look ahead:

 

Monday's Mini-Report

Today's edition of quick hits:

* The United States is "reviewing every aspect" of our relationship with Egypt.

* On a related note, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters today the administration is reviewing its annual aid package, and added that senior administration officials, in one-on-one conversations with military leaders in Egypt, "have made clear that it is incumbent upon the interim government in Egypt to transition back to a democratically elected government."

* In Egypt, a court ordered that former President Hosni Mubarak be freed, though "it remained possible that the authorities would find a way to keep him in detention and his release did not appear imminent." Over the last 24 hours, Egyptian security forces have killed 36 Islamists in its custody, while suspected militants were reported to have killed "at least 24 police officers and wounded 3 others in an attack on their minibuses in the restive northern Sinai region."

* British officials gave the White House a "heads up" about the nine-hour detention of David Miranda at Heathrow Airport yesterday, though the administration insists this was "a law enforcement action" taken by the British government, not at the behest of the U.S.

* For his part, Greenwald has vowed to take a more "aggressive" posture, adding, "I think they'll regret what they've done."

* San Diego: "Two inside, anonymous sources tell KGTV that lawyers for San Diego Mayor Bob Filner (D) were in a mediation session an attorney for the city and attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing at least one of the women who has accused Filner of sexual harassment. A retired federal judge is presiding over the mediation, which was designed to include a review of a potential resignation by Filner."

* Gun violence: "At least six people were killed and 27 others wounded in weekend gun violence across Chicago."

* Good thinking: "With precious time remaining before the health care exchanges established by the president's health care law are up and running, the Obama administration is rolling out new initiatives to encourage enrollment. The latest of these is set to be unveiled on Monday, when the Department of Health and Human Services will debut a video contest -- complete with cash prizes -- designed to persuade younger consumers to get insurance."

* Fox Entertainment is no longer going to be involved with NBC's mini-series on Hillary Clinton.

* Hmm: "Scotland Yard is investigating News International as a 'corporate suspect' over hacking and bribing offences, it can be revealed."

* And Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has reached the point at which he's even lost Jennifer Rubin.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

The climate crisis and 'outdated standards'

Associated Press

When it comes to Republican rhetoric and the climate crisis, it's been a discouraging August. In recent weeks, we've seen prominent congressional GOP lawmakers spout some truly ridiculous nonsense about global warming, each instance more offensive than the last.

But while Republican climate deniers move further from the realm of evidence and reason, more serious voices are confronting reality in a more responsible, albeit reactive, fashion.

A presidential task force charged with developing a strategy for rebuilding areas damaged by Superstorm Sandy has issued a report recommending 69 policy initiatives, most focused on a simple warning: Plan for future storms in an age of climate change and rising sea levels.

The report released Monday by the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force says coastal communities should assume floods are going to happen more frequently and realize that spending more now on protective measures could save money later. It calls for development of a more advanced electrical grid less likely to be crippled in a crisis, and the creation of better planning tools and standards for communities rebuilding storm-damaged areas.

Task force members were not asked to come up with recommendations on how to combat climate change. Rather, as the AP report noted, this exercise was about coming with recommendations on how to deal with the intensifying threat, specifically by asking architects and engineers to explore ways to address vulnerabilities in coastal areas.

The report, called "Rebuild by Design," explained, "Decision makers at all levels must recognize that climate change and the resulting increase in risks from extreme weather have eliminated the option of simply building back to outdated standards and expecting better outcomes after the next extreme event."

It's against this backdrop that scientists from the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported today that "with near certainty ... human activity is the cause of most of the temperature increases of recent decades, and warns that sea levels could rise by more than three feet by the end of the century if emissions continue at a runaway pace."

Did I mention that the Republican vice chair of the House Science Committee told the public that global warming is a "fraud" cooked up by liberals who want one-world government?

Dave Roberts, meanwhile, had a fascinating item last week considering whether the conservative Republican ideology is simply unable to "accommodate the real facts on global warming." I fear he's right, though I hope, for everyone's sake, he's not.

From bad to worse in Virginia

Associated Press

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) adopted a new posture and defense strategy a few weeks ago, bringing new lawyers and damage-control experts to help him avoid resigning in disgrace. The strategy included some obvious elements, including returning the ill-gotten gifts, launching a statewide "opportunity" tour, etc.

The subtext wasn't subtle: McDonnell, we were supposed to believe, was transitioning from the "humiliating revelation" phase to the "please let me stay in office for a few more months" phase.

And that's arguably not a horrible gambit -- or at least, it wouldn't be if the scandal-plagued governor really had moved past the "humiliating revelation" phase, which he hadn't.

We learned over the weekend, for example, that while the governor was helping Star Scientific and receiving luxury gifts from the company's CEO, the governor's wife, Maureen McDonnell, quietly purchased thousands of shares of stock in the company. Why didn't the governor think to mention this before? According to his spokesperson, it's because McDonnell had no idea what his wife was up to -- she made the investment without the governor's knowledge.

Oh good, we've apparently reached the "throw the wife under the bus" phase.

Making matters considerably worse, the Washington Post reports that the governor and wife will spend the day meeting with prosecutors -- but not together.

Attorneys for Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, will spend Monday locked in separate hours-long meetings trying to convince federal prosecutors that the first couple should not be charged in the gifts scandal that has dominated state politics.

The meetings open a new, critical phase of the investigation, timed to help prosecutors decide over the next few weeks whether to file charges.... The central issues for prosecutors are what precisely McDonnell may have said or offered to Williams on his own and how much the governor knew about his wife's acceptance of gifts from Williams and her actions to help his company just as Star was launching a new product.

Remember, it's tempting at this point to think McDonnell should do himself and his commonwealth a favor by stepping down, handing over the reins to his qualified and competent lieutenant governor, and focusing of his defense full time. But the McDonnells' meetings today aren't about whether or not he can stay in the governor's mansion until January; they're about whether criminal charges are on the way.

A different kind of Stone Age

Associated Press

A truck on a gravel road near La Joya, Texas.

A few years ago, the Wall Street Journal described paved roads as "historical emblems of American achievement." But in era of strained budgets and fiscal conservatism, American achievements are a little tougher to come by.

Take Texas, for example (thanks to my colleague Tricia McKinney for the heads-up).

The sharp increase in heavy traffic from a historic oil boom has damaged many farm-to-market roads in South and East Texas. The damage related to energy development has become so extensive that state and local authorities lack the funding to make all the repairs. Last month, the Texas Department of Transportation announced plans to convert more than 80 miles of paved roads to gravel. The conversions are expected to start Monday, TxDOT officials said. But the plan has been met with criticism from lawmakers and some of the farmers and ranchers who live near those roads.

"Since paving roads is too expensive and there is not enough funding to repave them all, our only other option to make them safer is to turn them into gravel roads," TxDOT spokesman David Glessner said.

The state legislature briefly considered tax increases on energy companies -- the companies that have benefited greatly from the energy boom, and which are chiefly responsible for pushing the roads quite literally past the breaking point -- but as you might have guessed, those proposals faced stiff political opposition and never gained traction in Austin.

Darlene Meyer, a 77-year-old rancher whose property sits along a state road marked for conversion to gravel, told the Texas Tribune, "Texas used to have the best roads.... I just can't believe the Department of Transportation is going back to the dark ages."

The larger context of this is important.

On the one hand, Gov. Rick Perry (R) believes Texas' economy is amazing, and he's managed to strike the perfect balance between meeting the public's needs and keeping the private sector happy. Every other state, the governor assures us, should be following Texas' lead -- after all, thanks to the energy sector, the Lone Star State has plenty of money.

On the other hand, thanks to wear and tear from the oil companies, which have made themselves remarkably rich from Texas' resources, Texas can no longer afford to pave many of its roads, and will instead transition from pavement to gravel.

The state must have known this was likely to happen, and had time to prepare for infrastructure needs, but ended up here anyway.

What's being lost in North Carolina

Another day, another report that North Carolina's new Republican-majority boards of elections are trying to make voting harder for students. The newest example comes from the historically black Winston-Salem State University, where the county board of election wants to shut down an early voting site. "[I]f students want to vote, they can still do it somewhere else," says Ken Raymond, Republican chairman of the Forsyth County Board of Elections.

Over at the Raleigh News & Observer, Rob Christensen takes stock of what is happening to the vote now in his state.

North Carolina had traditionally been a state where few people voted. It was ranked 47th in the country in voter participation in 1991, but rose to 34th in 2000 because of changes in the law to make voting easier. It rose to 21st in 2008 and to 11th in the country in 2012.

North Carolina had the biggest increase in the country in voter participation between 2004 and 2008. But as far as the Republicans were concerned that was a bad thing, because many of the new voters were young voters attracted to the candidacy of Barack Obama. In 2008, 74 percent of North Carolina voters between ages 18-29 voted for Obama, according to exit polls.

North Carolina elections weren't great, and then they got better, and then Barack Obama won. Republicans won control of the state in 2012, and now they are using their majority to curb the votes of people who tend to vote Democratic -- students and, over the past week, African-American students in particular. The county in the news today, Forsyth, went for Barack Obama twice. The Forsyth board could vote to take away the early-voting site at the college as soon as tomorrow.

As Rick Hasen writes today, North Carolina is whittling away voting rights in a way that would have been unthinkable only months ago, back when the Voting Rights Act was still intact.