Facts Keep Getting in the Way

Man I love it when Rachel Maddow sets bloviating liars like Karl Rove straight. He, along with the presidential candidates still standing keep trying to find something new to pin on Obama. Now he's getting blamed for high gas prices. It is an old tactic used to score points with low-information voters because apparently many of them really do support candidates who promise the holy grail of American consumerism; cheap gas and lots of it. 

In the video below we have Rove, on Fox News, of course, claiming the President is anti-oil, laughably mischaracterizing the role of the US Export-Import Bank, and essentially trying to plant the seed in the viewer's head that Obama is so nefarious that for reasons that elude thinking people, he, the President, would want energy prices to go up in a recovering economy and an election year. Newt Gingrich is shown making similar charges. Gee, I had no idea that Obama is so ingeniously treacherous.

Rachel Maddow brilliantly points out the idiocy of these charges through the ample use of her favorite weapon, facts. Watch as she shows how domestic oil production has been going up every year since Obama took office. She is referencing an article from that socialist rag, the Houston Chronicle, that says in part:

The United States' rapidly declining crude oil supply has made a stunning about-face, shredding federal oil projections and putting energy independence in sight of some analyst forecasts.

After declining to levels not seen since the 1940s, U.S. crude production began rising again in 2009. Drilling rigs have rushed into the nation's oil fields, suggesting a surge in domestic crude is on the horizon.

The number of rigs in U.S. oil fields has more than quad­rupled in the past three years to 1,272, according to the Baker Hughes rig count. Including those in natural gas fields, the United States now has more rigs at work than the entire rest of the world.

"It's staggering," said Marshall Adkins, who directs energy research for the financial services firm Raymond James. "If we continue growing anywhere near that pace and keep squeezing demand out of the system, that puts you in a world where we are not importing oil in 10 years."

Rove does have one redeeming quality; his first name is pretty cool. He even manages to spell it right.

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Christine the Crook?

Christine O'Donnell has received a lot of press attention ever since she beat 9-term Representative, Mike Castle. To say the coverage has been harsh and incredulous would be an understatement. The latest making the rounds is her admitted dabbling in witchcraft.

Yeah, whatever. That is like calling some guy a prophet just because he is prophesizing some shit will happen. And the astrologer divines your future, too, huh? No prophets, no witches, only those claim so.

For me it is a bit beside the point. What matters for her is how voters, especially the Republican right, will perceive all this. Many will not like it, though Republicans have a way of forgiving the wayward if they wrap themselves in enough Jesus talk.

I will let conservatives decide how hysterical they want to get on the witchcraft stuff; remember, she didn't join a coven. What is more interesting is what Karl Rove, of all people, aired publicly regarding O'Donnell's past. He says he is troubled by all the gaps in her background, especially her inability to explain employment, income sources, disposition of debts, etc. That didn't prevent him from coming around, in a matter of hours, and endorsing her. Guess those concerns were all cleared up.

Others are not so forgiving. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) reported on Sept 20 they filed complaints with the Delaware U.S. Attorney's Office and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against O'Donnell. CREW alleges that O'Donnell misused campaign funds, lied about expenditures to the FEC, and thus committed tax evasion. As Melanie Sloan, CREW Executive Director states, "Christine O'Donnell is clearly a criminal, and like any crook she should be prosecuted...Ms. O'Donnell has spent years embezzling money from her campaign to cover her personal expenses."

Yikes, that's pretty serious stuff. Of course, that doesn't make it true just because people at CREW allege it. But when even Rove publicly disavows a fellow Republican, those are some serious red flags on that woman. And since CREW's action is a legal complaint, O'Donnell will not be able to blow it off so easily.