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The fact checkers of American politics are probably mourning the impending loss of Minn. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Congress.
As the conservative politician announced she will not seek reelection to her House seat in the next election, PolitiFact has released a list of Bachmann’s scores on their “Truth-O-Meter,” the majority of which were either labeled as “false” or “pants of fire.”
Here’s a look at some of the, uh, least true statements Bachmann has made. Source, PolitiFact.com:
You can’t legally drive a car if you don’t have insurance, but should gun owners be held to the same standard? NPR’s Plant Money brings up an interesting idea that has been floating around the gun-control debate lately and asked economists to weigh in. A radio piece was aired today on Morning Edition.
Justin Wolfers, professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan tells them:
“Another even more powerful approach is to recognize that the problem isn’t guns per se, but gun violence. Thus, instead of taxing guns, we should tax gun violence. Basically, this is the same as saying that we should make gun owners liable for any damage their guns do. Not only would this discourage some people from buying guns, it would lead those who do keep guns to be more careful with how they’re stored. Indeed, greater care would surely have kept Adam Lanza out of his mother’s cache. The problem, though, is that Nancy Lanza is neither with us to pay the damages her gun caused, nor could she afford to pay for the enormous damage her gun wrought in Newtown. And so the only way this solution works is if guns required mandatory liability insurance, much as we force car owners to buy insurance for the damage their machines wreak.”
Read the Planet Money post to find out what else they learned.
It’s Barney Frank’s last day on the job as the 112th Congress comes to an end with the Democrat not seeking re-election.
Frank, first elected to the House in 1979, has long been known for cracking wise; he once complained he couldn’t get all the way through the Starr report because there was “too much heterosexual sex” in it.
In honor of the congressman’s last day here’s a look a some of his one-liners going back to the Reagan administration:
MSNBC takes a straight razor to David Axelrod in the name of charity. One of the wonkiest ‘staches in American politics is no more as the high-profile Democratic consultant rid himself of his signature look on live television.
Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were able to help rustle up a million bucks for Axelrod’s CURE charity, an epilepsy research charity.
At this point Mitt Romney probably regrets announcing to the world he has “binders full of women.”
Not just because the phrase is bizarre enough to have spawned a Twitter account, Facebook page (with tens of thousands of followers), a music video and even its own URL, but because he may have stepped into a complicated political mess involving the accuracy of such a statement and even the underlying policy message is sends.
Besides being a line that may as well have come out of the Romney “Gangham Style” parody (Heeeeey, wealthy ladies!), on a policy level, PBS commentator Mark Shields points out Romney’s binders story is affirmative action:
“That will be the clip that will be seen around the world, Mitt Romney. And the interesting thing about that is, he told the story about the women in his Cabinet, was that was affirmative action. That is affirmative action.
He got all these men. And he said, no, no, can’t we find some women? Go out and find some women. That’s the definition of affirmative action.”
This is not a message Romney intended to send, regardless of whether or not his cabinet included women in top-level positions.
When asked in last night’s town hall about gender in the workplace, specifically equal-pay-for-equal-work, rather than answering the question directly he launched into an anecdote. Romney was in a corner, however, given his lack of support for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, an anecdote may have been his way of diffusing the situation. But the binder story backfired and took on a life of its own.
Then again, if Romney played it straight, it would have been far less entertaining and the internet would have been robbed of one of the better memes of the campaign.
Turns out though, Romney didn’t actually ask for binders full of women according to David S. Bernstein of Boston’s The Phoenix:
“What actually happened was that in 2002 — prior to the election, not even knowing yet whether it would be a Republican or Democratic administration — a bipartisan group of women in Massachusetts formed MassGAP to address the problem of few women in senior leadership positions in state government. There were more than 40 organizations involved with the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus (also bipartisan) as the lead sponsor.
They did the research and put together the binder full of women qualified for all the different cabinet positions, agency heads, and authorities and commissions. They presented this binder to Governor Romney when he was elected.”
Some may argue Bernstein is splitting hairs here; does it really matter who approached whom if the end result was a more equitable hiring process? Bloomberg’s Paula Dywer notes:
“What matters is that, once elected, Romney acted on their recommendations. The result was a far more representative leadership staff. In his 2003 cabinet, five out of 14 positions, or 37 percent, were filled by women. A woman lieutenant governor, Kerry Healey, served alongside Romney for four years. A State University of New York at Albany survey concluded that Romney had more women in senior positions than any other governor.”
However, the substantive debate, predictably, isn’t what’s buzzing on the internet this morning, it’s stuff like this:
Governorthatsnottrue.com is not far behind, which was also immediately registered, though not populated.
In a line that may as well have come out of the Romney “Gangham Style” parody (Heeeeey, wealthy ladies!), Mitt Romney admits to having “binders full of women.”
That’s just how Mitt rolls — and it already has its own URL.
Romney, in tonight’s town hall debate with President Barack Obama, speaking of inequalities in the workplace explained: ”I went to a number of women’s groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks,’ and they brought us whole binders full of women.”
The internet, doing its job, quickly started a meme and, a Twitter account, Facebook page and a music video.
Turns out though, Romney didn’t actually ask for binders full of women. According to David S. Bernstein of Boston’s The Phoenix:
“What actually happened was that in 2002 — prior to the election, not even knowing yet whether it would be a Republican or Democratic administration — a bipartisan group of women in Massachusetts formed MassGAP to address the problem of few women in senior leadership positions in state government. There were more than 40 organizations involved with the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus (also bipartisan) as the lead sponsor.
They did the research and put together the binder full of women qualified for all the different cabinet positions, agency heads, and authorities and commissions. They presented this binder to Governor Romney when he was elected.”
Beyond that, however, on a policy level, PBS commentator Mark Shields points out Romney’s binders story — if it’s even accurate — is affirmative action:
“That will be the clip that will be seen around the world, Mitt Romney. And the interesting thing about that is, he told the story about the women in his Cabinet, was that was affirmative action. That is affirmative action.
He got all these men. And he said, no, no, can’t we find some women? Go out and find some women. That’s the definition of affirmative action.”
The substantive debate, predictably, isn’t what’s buzzing on the internet this morning, it’s stuff like this:
Governorthatsnottrue.com is not far behind, which was also immediately registered, though not populated.
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