And so it begins…

Right out of the chute, Mitt Romney flubbed the announcement of Paul Ryan as his choice for Vice President.

“Join me in welcoming the next President of the United States, Paul Ryan.”

He left the stage, Paul Ryan ran up, then he had to come back up on stage to correct himself.

Two rich white guys, neither of whom ever served in the military, making their major announcement on the deck of a military ship. How typical of the Republicans is that?

In the process, Romney gave the Democrats the best photo op they could hope for:

“Every now and then I’ve been known to make a mistake,” he said, pointing at Paul Ryan.

Screen cap, video and more after the jump.

Mitt Romney is a liar.

Mitt Romney is a blatant liar and he is running for president of the United States.

Let’s look at that again: Mitt Romney is a blatant liar and he is running for president of the United States.

What was once just “flip-flopping” has now become full on, in public, repeated without shame or any concern that anyone will care, lying about President Obama. I’m not talking about the standard fair bending of the truth that we have come to expect from nearly ANY political campaign. I’m talking about make-shit-up, completely fabricated and provably so LYING.

His recent egregiously blatant examples and more after the jump.

Fer cryin’ out loud, was THAT so hard???

The Michigan Board of State Canvassers met today in Lansing and followed the order given to them by the state Supreme Court to put the repeal of Public Act 4 – our state’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager Law – on the November ballot.

While you would think that this is the final piece in the Republican Stall Machine, it’s not. Although PA 4 is now officially suspended until the election to determine if it’s repealed or upheld, there is now certain to be a court battle over what happens in the interim.

More after the jump.

When you can’t win on the issues, you have to cheat

Earlier this year, Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson decided to add a citizenship checkbox to the voter registration slip you have to fill out to vote. This entirely unnecessary step was seen by many as just one more attempt to freak out voters and dissuade them from voting. Governor Rick Snyder vetoed the legislation that required it but the checkbox was still on the slips, creating mass confusion.

Just what the Republicans wanted.

That and more including the frisking of voters in Detroit by a man wearing fatigues after the jump.

“He’s dead, Jim…”

Earlier today, I wrote about how Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is trying to resurrect the Zombie Emergency Financial Manager Law, PA72. I showed how he’s using circuitous logic to arrive at that conclusion. But, it’s pretzel logic at it finest.

He says first that MCL 8.4, which prevents the resurrection of a dead law, doesn’t apply because PA4 is only suspended, not repealed. Therefore, it’s still on the books and MCL 8.4 doesn’t prevent them from resurrecting PA72.

Then he says that, because PA4 is gone, its repeal of PA72 doesn’t exist so it is able to rise from the dead to walk the earth among the living.

I put together this easy-to-follow flowchart to help out AG Schuette who seems to lack the ability to grasp simple, common sense concepts. It’s so basic that even Mr. Schuette should be able to wrap his simple mind around it.

(Psst! It’s after the jump.)

Score one for the Good Guys

The Michigan Board of State Canvassers, who didn’t even have a meeting scheduled as of late last week, has hastily scheduled one for tomorrow (pdf).

Why?

I’ll show you after the jump.

BRAAA-AAAINS!!!

With the approval of the PA 4 repeal ballot initiative imminent, the predictable (and predicted) fight over what happens next is fully underway.

Using a truly astonishing act of mental gymnastics and pretzel logic, Republicans, aided and abetted by Attorney General Bill Schuette, are convinced that we will simply revert to the original statute, Public Act 72. Though this law gave Emergency Financial Managers much less abusive authority than the Emergency Managers under Public Act 4, those municipalities and school districts currently under the thumb of a local dictator beg to differ with this view of things.

Join me on the Zombie Law Roller Coaster after the jump.

Romney Hood: stealing from the Middle Class to give to the rich

At a campaign stop in Stamford, Connecticut yesterday, President Obama referring to Mitt Romney’s economic plan, the one that pays for historic tax cuts for the super wealthy by increasing taxes on average Americans, renamed Mitt Romney “Romney Hood”. He’s a reverse Robin Hood, said the president, stealing from Middle Class Americans to give to the very rich in our country.

It was brilliant.

Transcript and more after the jump.

Voting is sexy. It’s really astonishing and heartbreaking how few people vote in our country’s primaries. It’s heartbreaking because these are the elections where we can actually impact the political future of our country. If you want your state to be more progressive, it’s at the primary where you can choose between candidates who are more or less progressive. It’s […]

Go, Chevy!

A Chevy ad released last month to celebrate the Detroit Pride festival has gone viral beyond anyone’s prediction. The ad, originally a tiny $750 buy in the Motor City Pride edition of Between the Lines, has been viewed by well over 10 million people.

See the ad after the jump.

The Students First kiss of death

State Representative Maureen Stapleton had received the UAW endorsement for the newly drawn 6th House district seat as a Democrat. However, thanks to a “kiss of death” endorsement by Michelle Rhee’s anti-teacher, pro-charter schools group Students First, they have withdrawn their endorsement and are throwing their support behind Rashida Tlaib, instead.

Details after the jump.