Herman Cain admits Romney’s welfare attack is wrong

Herman Cain admits Romney’s welfare attack is wrong

By Stephen C. Webster
Thursday, August 30, 2012 9:54 EDT

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Topics: herman cain ♦ jon stewart ♦ mitt romney

 

Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain finally admitted on Wednesday night that Mitt Romney’s welfare attack ad is false. But even for Comedy Central host Jon Stewart, that admission took some wrangling.

In part three (below) of an interview that went well into overtime, Stewart continually pressed Cain on whether Romney’s campaign is lying in an ad that claims President Barack Obama “gutted” the welfare work requirement.

After much consternation, Cain seemed to just plain run out of wiggle room on the subject, going from insisting that the welfare work exception wasn’t a Republican idea to begin with (it was) to saying that the administration is letting states not fully enforce the work requirement, to finally agreeing with Stewart’s claim that the ad is simply wrong.

Stewart was friendly about the inaccuracy, but adamant, not letting Cain off the issue and even reading from Politifact’s critique of Romney’s ad, which they ranked “pants on fire.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, the truth tour begins tonight!” Stewart declared after reading from Politifact. “Hold on, let me get in my gloating chair.”

Cain insisted that Politifact was just talking about “the language” of the ad: that somehow the word “gutted” was simply too strong. But he still insisted that the rules give states the ability to weaken the requirement.

“I’m not disagreeing with the fact that the language was too strong,” Cain said. “But it gives states the opportunity to so called increase [in employment], but the examples I have been shown, it decreased.”

“No, no, no, no,” Stewart said. “It’s not about lessening them. It’s about making sure it’s not a, I believe the phrase is, ‘One size fits all.’”

“I would agree with that,” Cain said repeatedly.

“It seems to me that not only is ‘gutting’ wrong, but lessening is wrong,” Stewart replied. “That, lessening would still be pants, necessarily not on fire, but certainly smoldering.”

“There are situations where they were looking at lessening, but…” Cain trailed off. “But I’m not… I will go along with your description.”

Then Cain turned to the audience, raised his arms and shouted: “I am sorry! So shoot me!”

Stewart jumped out of his chair and danced behind the desk. “You’re a good man!” he said, shaking Cain’s hand.

This video is from Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” broadcast Wednesday, August 29, 2012. Part one:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

This video is from Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” broadcast Wednesday, August 29, 2012. Part two:

PAUL KRUGMAN ON GOP ECONOMIC HALLUCINATIONS

Krugman: Ryan ‘mythical conservative’ in media, GOP’s dreams

By Jonathan Terbush
Wednesday, August 29, 2012 22:21 EDT

See video at http://bcove.me/tvg5ce59

Topics: budget plan ♦ paul krugman ♦ paul ryan

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman questioned the budget math of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) in an appearance on Current TV Wednesday, saying he had duped conservatives and members of the media into thinking he has a serious budget plan when he really doesn’t.

Krugman noted, as he often has in his columns and blog posts, that the tax cuts and spending changes in Ryan’s budget do not add up, saying that he is simply “faking it” on the numbers. Specifically when it comes to Medicaid, he said, Ryan’s budget would essentially take money from the poor and give it to the rich.

“If you look at this, you say, ‘How can he get away with this? The world’s greatest nation falls for this flimflam?” Krugman said.

Ryan gets away with it, he said, because few people take the time to do the math, and because the media and Republicans are so eager to have a so-called serious conservative to fit their narrative.

“There is supposed to be a person like the mythical Paul Ryan, there are supposed to be serious conservatives who really care about the deficit,” he said. “In fact you can’t find them.”

“[Ryan] played into that desire,” he continued. “He became the figure of their dreams even though in reality he is nothing like that.”

RIGHT WING HATE SQUADS

Push back against the right-wing hate squads Dear James,   The radical right organized four separate anti-Obama hate-fests in Tampa, as they mobilized for an all out assault on Barack Obama. This was pretty scary stuff. And AlterNet was there to record the fantasies and the paranoia.  AlterNet's team --with Adele Stan at the helm, along with Peter Montgomery and Arun Gupta-- has been in the middle of the action in Florida, documenting the dark words of Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and more, as the all-star team of wing nuttery rallied the faithful to defeat Obama.  The AlterNet team has been on the convention floor. And they have tracked the protests in the streets. Some of the things these right-wing leaders said were truly hair-raising. Here are a handful of the many:  Ralph Reed, Chairman, Faith and Freedom Coalition: We will "bathe the entire week with prayer" and dedicate the fall election to "the Lord." "We feel very strongly that America hangs in the balance,” Reed said. He also enlisted Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum to record messages that will be used in 4 million robocalls. Newt Gingrich: "Unlike Barack Obama," Gingrich said, "[Romney] understands that our grant comes from God." "I believe Barack Obama is a direct threat to the survival of the country I know and love." Gingrich called Obama a "pro-abortion extremist" falsely claiming that the Democratic Party platform called for late-term, taxpayer-funded abortions. And, perhaps new for Gingrich, he claimed that abortion was murder. Michele Bachmann: In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision upholding the Affordable Care Act, "there's only one option left for America to remain free -- and that's at the ballot box...We're not going to stand by and see socialism implemented in our country." Phyllis Schlafly, President, Eagle Forum declared that this is the most important election of our lifetimes and that “our whole way of life is at stake.”  Judson Phillips, President, Tea Party Nation: Phillips, whose group served as a co-sponsor of one of the rallies, served up an unhinged string of unexplained accusations going so far as to accuse Obama, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of "occasional mass murder." He did not elaborate on the charge.