Playing Politics

"The Mackinac Center for Public Policy received numerous death threats and bomb threats in the aftermath of national publicity about a Freedom of Information Act request it sent to three public universities. The messages were left on the Center's voice mail Thursday night and early Friday morning, but it is unclear at this point if one or two women were responsible for the threats.

"It seems in bad form. Obviously, when it comes to information about my wife and daughters, it crosses the line. I find it offensive and so do they," Brown told the Herald yesterday. ... A DSCC spokesman insisted the request was only for public information and never sought private medical information about the Brown family. "Obviously, the commission has made a mistake. Now Brown is trying score cheap political points to distract from his record, voting in lock step with Republicans in Washington, D.C." ... [Playbook rule #17: Quick! Change the subject! Bonus! Includes playbook rule #7: Say the other guy is doing what you're actually doing.]

Republican leaders wasted little time playing up reports Tuesday that New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the third-ranking Senate Democrat, told other members of his party that the caucus had urged him to start calling Republican budget cut proposals "extreme" during public battle between the parties of government spending. "Chuck Schumer did us a favor. He exposed their tactic," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, told reporters. "You heard his comment. He's basically instructing his members to deem any spending cut unreasonable. Any spending cut. So clearly they're not serious."

"While Chuck Schumer and the Democratic caucus have been busy in a backroom crafting their 'blame the Tea Party' talking points, according to Rasmussen, 69 percent of Americans remain 'angry' or 'very angry' with the government," said Mark Meckler, national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots. "Why? It's not that complicated, and it's definitely not because the American public thinks the government isn't spending enough money,"

The liberal group Media Matters has quietly transformed itself in preparation for what its founder, David Brock, described in an interview as an all-out campaign of "guerrilla warfare and sabotage" aimed at the Fox News Channel.

Thousands of protesters pushed past security, climbed through windows and flooded the Wisconsin Capitol on Wednesday night after Senate Republicans pushed through a plan to strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights. [We've gone to mob action. Yup, that's how I learned in grade school that American politics is supposed to work. Now LET'S GET A ROPE!... oh, wait...]

The bigotry in the video directed towards Jews seemed to alarm Williams the most. "...he is sitting there... buying into libel against Jewish people who have had success in the newspaper business but nothing illegitimate, nothing wrong about it, and he buys into the stereotyping and bigotry and then points the finger at others to say people like me are bigots. This is unbelievable." http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/08/fired-npr-analyst-juan-williams-respon... Good ear for the worst hypocrisy.

On the videotape, Mr. Schiller tells people posing as Muslim philanthropists that the Republican party has been "hijacked" by the Tea Party and that Tea Party supporters are "seriously racist, racist people." Mr. Schiller indicates that he is sharing his personal point of view, not NPR's. Dana Davis Rehm, a spokeswoman for NPR, said in a statement Tuesday, "We are appalled by the comments made by Ron Schiller in the video, which are contrary to what NPR stands for." [What's that SMELL? Eue de irony?]

GOP Sen. Glenn Grothman was locked out of the building and was eventually surrounded by hundreds of angry protesters, according to the Cap Times. The paper reports that State Rep. Brett Hulsey, a Democrat from Madison, intervened and tried to calm the crowd. The incident lasted 5 to 10 minutes and firefighters eventually cleared a path for Grothman and Hulsey to make their way to a side entrance to the building. "This guy and I disagree on everything, but we're friends," the Cap Times quotes Hulsey as telling the demonstrators. "This is a peaceful protest. You need to back away." [THIS IS A PEACEFUL PROTEST. YOU NEED TO BACK AWAY. PEACEABLE LIKE. UM...]

Crony capitalism is much easier than competing in an open market. But it erodes our overall standard of living and stifles entrepreneurs by rewarding the politically favored rather than those who provide what consumers want. The purpose of business is to efficiently convert resources into products and services that make people's lives better. [hattip to http://twitter.com/brandondutcher/statuses/42771751410741248]