Is Barack Obama Worse Than A Republican?

By Yashwanth Manjunath

After watching President Obama’s press conference yesterday I walked away with that same sick feeling usually reserved for a Republican press conference.

When asked by a reporter who has clearly been reading Republican talking points, why Obama’s budget does not address “the long-term crushing costs of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid — the real drivers of long-term debt,”  Obama responded to the reporter by accepting the false Republican talking point:

…The truth is Social Security is not the huge contributor to the deficit that the other two entitlements are. I’m confident we can get Social Security done in

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GOP Attitude Toward Job Loss: “So Be It.”

by Stuart Shapiro

In response to a question about job losses resulting from proposed Republican budget cuts, Speaker Boehner said, “Since President Obama has taken office the federal government has added 200,000 new federal jobs, and if some of those jobs are lost in this, so be it.”  Aside from the “let them eat cake” attitude that has long been characteristic of the Republican leadership, Boehner’s numbers are flat out wrong.  Dana Milbank asked one expert about job losses under the Republican plan and got the following response.

the cuts – a net of $59 billion in the last …

Justin Bieber Won’t Become An American Because Canada Has Better Health Care

In a Rolling Stone interview Justin Bieber says he has no desire to become an American citizen because his native Canada’s single-payer health care system is better. (h/t Mediaite)

The Canadian-born Bieber never plans on becoming an American citizen. “You guys are evil,” he says with a laugh. “Canada’s the best country in the world. We go to the doctor and we don’t need to worry about paying him, but here, your whole life, you’re broke because of medical bills. My bodyguard’s baby was premature, and now he has to pay for it. In Canada, if your baby’s premature, …

Wisconsin Republicans Trying To Squash Workers’ Rights

Workers in Wisconsin are sending a signal to the Republican-controlled legislature and Republican Governor Scott Walker that they will not stand for efforts to take away their right to collective bargaining.

Thousands of students, teachers and other workers clogged a hearing for hours and camped out at the Capitol overnight, and so many teachers called in sick that the Madison public school district had to cancel classes Wednesday.

While other states have proposed bills curtailing labor rights, Wisconsin’s measure is the boldest step by a new Republican governor and Legislature to solve budget problems by confronting organized labor. It would …

Justin Bieber Does His Obama Impersonation

Justin Bieber stopped by to visit with Conan and relayed a story about visiting the president in the Oval Office. This came replete with an impersonation of the president that wasn’t bad (via Mediaite).

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South Dakota Bill Would Make Killing To Stop Harm To A Fetus Justifiable Homicide

South Dakota State Rep. Phil Jensen has proposed a law that would make killing someone to protect a fetus “justifiable homicide.”

[The bill] alters the state’s legal definition of justifiable homicide by adding language stating that a homicide is permissible if committed by a person “while resisting an attempt to harm” that person’s unborn child or the unborn child of that person’s spouse, partner, parent, or child. If the bill passes, it could in theory allow a woman’s father, mother, son, daughter, or husband to kill anyone who tried to provide that woman an abortion—even if she wanted …

Haley Barbour Says He Won’t Denounce License Plate Honoring KKK: “I Won’t Even Denounce The News Media”

Mississippi governor and possible 2012 presidential candidate Haley Barbour refuses to denounce a state license plate honoring early KKK leader Nathan Bedford Forrest, which is desired by the Mississippi Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans. The NAACP has asked the governor to renounce the move.

Asked about the NAACP’s stance Tuesday, Barbour replied: “I don’t go around denouncing people. That’s not going to happen. I don’t even denounce the news media.”

Asked to clarify what he thinks is not going to happen, Barbour said he believes lawmakers won’t approve a specialty license plate depicting Forrest.

“I know there’s not a …

On Tuesday’s Radio Show…

• Q&A: Alan reviews today’s presidential press conference.

• When politicians make judgments based on skin color and even honor KKK leaders, how can anyone call racism a thing of the past? Alan examines the issue.

• High school teacher Ashley Payne, who lost her job after photos of her with alcohol appeared on Facebook, shares her troubling story with Alan.…

“Curveball” Says He Lied About WMDs To Topple Saddam

Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, better known by the name he was given by German and American intelligence officials, “Curveball,” says he lied about the existence of WMDs and mobile biological weapons trucks in an effort to get rid of Saddam Hussein. (h/t TPM)

In a series of meetings with the Guardian in Germany where he has been granted asylum, he said he had told a German official, who he identified as Dr Paul, about mobile bioweapons trucks throughout 2000. He said the BND [German Secret Service] had identified him as a Baghdad-trained chemical engineer and approached him shortly after …

Michele Bachmann Takes Pot Shots At Michelle Obama

On Laura Ingraham’s radio show Congresswoman Michele Bachmann took swipes at Michelle Obama, saying the First Lady is “very consistent with where the hard left is coming from.”

Bachmann, a mother of five, said she nursed all her children. But, “to think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump for my babies? You wanna talk about the nanny state, I think you just got a new definition,” she said.

When asked if she thinks Mrs. Obama might one day run for public office, Bachmann opined, “She might. Can you imagine if Laura Bush was doing that, …

Afghan War Costing $300 Million A Day

The cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will cost $117.8 billion, including $107.3 billion for Afghanistan.

The budget for Afghanistan and Iraq includes $79.2 billion for operations, $10.1 billion to counter the threat posed by homemade bombs — the main killer of NATO-led troops in the war.

Some $11.9 billion is devoted to repairing and replacing equipment lost or damaged and $12.8 billion for training and arming Afghan security forces, who are supposed to gradually take over security duties between now and 2015.

When so-called budget hawks complain about the deficit, let’s remind them we can’t get out of …