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No Limits

Jen Sorensen
© Jen Sorensen

Yes, it is true, Arizona is now the only state that has a one-year lifetime limit on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) benefits. Which means that next July, about half the people currently receiving benefits will lose them.

What’s ironic about this is that TANF is specifically designed to move people into new employment. Not only are the benefits limited (the time limit varies by state), but in order to receive any benefits from the program a family must have dependent children and the parents must be enrolled in a jobs program. There are other requirements too: the children must be attending school and be immunized. And for all this, the average family on TANF receives $195 a month.

One worry is that families losing support to move them back into jobs will end up homeless and on the street, which will cost us taxpayers even more money when we have to take care of their kids.

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Meet Mrs. Fulbright

Some of you may have heard of “Honest” Gil Fulbright, who may be the world’s most honest politician. But the honesty doesn’t stop with him. Here’s an ad with his honest wife. Be sure to watch to the end, where there’s an easter egg.

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Debate Format?

Republicans candidates keep whining about their debate format. They seem upset that they were asked mean questions.

Steve Sack

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Money Can’t Buy Happiness?

While the Citizens United decision and the rise of big money and Super PACs had a huge effect on the 2010 midterm election, they don’t seem to be having as much of an impact on the current presidential primaries. Don’t get me wrong, there is even more money being spent this time, but it doesn’t seem to be having as much of an effect.

Exhibit A is Jeb Bush, whose Right to Rise Super PAC has aired a stunning $15.5 million in TV ads while his polling numbers sank.

Likewise, candidates who focused completely on raising lots of money through Super PACs, including Scott Walker and Rick Perry, have mostly dropped out of the race. The exception to this is Marco Rubio, but his rising star was largely fueled by two strong debate performances.

There are two, somewhat related reasons why Super PACs aren’t helping as much as they used to. First is because Super PACs are not allowed to coordinate with the campaign directly. So they cannot be used to build ground operations, pay employees, or organize campaign fundraisers. Which leaves them mainly paying for TV ads. Once upon a time, TV ads were the things that broke or made campaigns.

Which brings us to the second reason, which is that TV ads aren’t working as well as they used to. Part of this is because of sheer fatigue – right now, roughly half of all TV ads in Iowa are political. The advertising law of threes says that somebody has to see an ad three times before it has any effect on them, but after they see it three hundred times? But the main part is probably because of media changes. The rise of the internet means that people are watching more video online, rather than on broadcast TV or cable. Super PACs have been slow to adapt to this change. And finally, political campaigns get steep discounts on advertising, which are not available to Super PACs. A Super PAC typically pays four times as much per commercial as a candidate’s campaign does.

So, does this mean we shouldn’t worry about Super PACs? Not at all. Super PACs can still be a huge accessory to the main campaign, they are just not as effective on their own. When they are used as the campaign’s center of gravity (as they were for Walker or Perry) they fail. But they are still good at keeping a candidate alive in the lean times.

However, the main reason we should worry about Super PACs is because of their lack of accountability or transparency. The form of Super PACs called 501c4 do not have to disclose any information about their donors, and is now the second biggest overall TV ad spender. This means that our political candidates could be bought off by our country’s enemies and there is no way we would even know.

Maybe they already have been.

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Follow the Money!

Here’s a cute app that helps you follow the money. It is a free browser extension for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox (sorry IE users!). After you install it, when you are using your browser and it shows the name of a major politician, you can hover your cursor over the name and it will show you their major corporate campaign contributions.

As the creator of this browser app says: some politicians are red, and some are blue, but all of them are green. Find out to whom a politician is beholden.

The data comes from Opensecrets.org, but this makes it oh so convenient.

Where’s the irony? The creator Nicholas Rubin, was only 16 years old – too young to vote – when he wrote it. But he will be old enough soon – he just turned 17.

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Energetic Apathy

Joel Pett
© Joel Pett

Special interests want you to be apathetic. The less you know, and the less you vote, the more power they get.

Everyone is given the right to vote. If you don’t, you’re just throwing your power away.

It takes less time to vote than it does to complain about how corrupt and dysfunctional our government is. And if you don’t vote, you don’t really have the right to complain.

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Ratings Bonanza

Meanwhile, the GOP is all over the place trying to come up with a debate format that works for them. Unfortunately, they seem to think that the debate is for the candidates. Silly Republicans, debates are for voters. And here’s the debate format that would really increase the ratings and bring in the money. And isn’t that what it is all about?

Bruce Plante
© Bruce Plante

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Late Night Political Humor

“Tonight’s Republican debate took place in Colorado, where marijuana is legal. Which explains why every single question from the audience was, ‘Where am I?'” – Conan O’Brien

“I haven’t been able to watch tonight’s Republican debate yet, but I’m excited to see the face-off between the party’s biggest opponents: Carson and staying awake.” – Stephen Colbert

“Tonight was the World Series and the Republican debate. In other words, two events with completely different attitudes toward Latino immigrants.” – Conan O’Brien

“Meanwhile, the other big competition from Boulder, Colorado, another Republican presidential debate on CNBC. Do we learn anything from these debates? The only thing voters might learn is CNBC is a channel.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Like a lot of New Yorkers, I am a little tired and pissed off this morning. I’m guessing a lot of you flipped over from the third Republican debate. I don’t know what happened yet because we taped this at 5:30, but I am super excited about the brand new Republican front-runner, retired neurosurgeon and current tired person Ben Carson.” – Stephen Colbert

“It’s been a great time for him. This surgeon is surging in the polls, 26 percent, ahead of Donald Trump’s 22 percent. The other 52 percent, of course, is going to the other 52 candidates.” – Stephen Colbert

“The two front-runners: Ben Carson, who doesn’t believe in evolution; and Donald Trump, who kind of proves his point.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Carson’s strongest support comes from evangelical Christians, a group that Donald Trump has had real trouble with, evidently. People who read the Bible just don’t want to follow someone who looks that much like a golden calf.” – Stephen Colbert

“On Monday, former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson endorsed Donald Trump. Tyson joins Trump’s biggest group of supporters: ‘People Who Have Been Hit in the Head a Lot’.” – Conan O’Brien

“Earlier this week Donald received the endorsement of one of America’s great political minds. Remember, Mike Tyson once bit a man’s ear off on national television — and endorsing Donald Trump is the craziest thing he has ever done.” – James Corden

“But Tyson isn’t the only celebrity endorsing Trump. He’s also been endorsed by Kirstie Alley, Gary Busey, Dennis Rodman, and Hulk Hogan, which sounds like a season of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’.” – James Corden

“Yesterday, Donald Trump told the crowd in Iowa, ‘I am a great Christian.’ If you have to tell people you’re a great Christian, you might not be a great Christian. Jesus said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Which is why Donald Trump is now currently working on plans to build an enormous needle.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Donald Trump said yesterday to supporters, ‘If I lose Iowa, I will never speak to you people again.’ He added, ‘But if I win, I will never speak to you people again.'” – Seth Meyers

“Republican candidate Mike Huckabee has earned endorsements from several members of the Duggar family. And that is a smart political move, since nearly 40 percent of Republican voters are actually members of the Duggar family.” – James Corden

“Bernie Sanders has received an endorsement from Justin Long, the actor who famously played a ‘Mac’ in those old Apple commercials. The endorsement meant so much to Bernie, he’s thinking of switching over to a Mac from his current computer, a yellow legal pad.” – James Corden

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Tough Guys?

Barack Obama made fun of the Republican candidates for president, saying that these would-be tough guys can’t even handle a bunch of CNBC moderators. During a fundraiser, Obama said:

Have you noticed that every one of these candidates says, ‘Obama’s weak. Putin’s kicking sand in his face. When I talk to Putin, he’s going to straighten out’? And then it turns out they can’t handle a bunch of CNBC moderators at a debate. I mean, let me tell you, if you can’t handle those guys, you know, then I don’t think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about you.

Darrin Bell
© Darrin Bell

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Do the Drug Ends Justify the Means?

So far, no.

Yesterday, the voters of Ohio rejected a ballot measure that would amend the Ohio constitution to legalize marijuana.

What’s ironic about this is that many of the organizations who are working to legalize marijuana urged voters to reject the measure. And (even more ironically) I’m glad the measure failed.

Drugs are big business, so it is amazing that it took this long for business to realize that they could make a lot of money off of marijuana. But once they figured that out, they didn’t waste any time. The ballot measure in Ohio was a blatant greedy power grab.

The ballot measure would have authorized ten (and only ten) specific businesses to supply legal marijuana, and keep it illegal for anyone else to sell it. And how did the writers of this measure select those ten businesses? They were the businesses that contributed a bunch of money to get the ballot measure passed. If it had passed, those ten companies would have had a collective monopoly to make a great deal of money, likely forever.

It wasn’t that long ago that we had a similar oligopoly, selling another (even more addictive) drug, tobacco. We don’t need big business pushing drugs again.

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Socializing Socialism?

Bernie Sanders has finally defined what he means by “Democratic Socialism”.

What I mean by Democratic socialism is looking at countries in Scandinavia that have much lower rates of child poverty, that have a fairer tax system that guarantees basic necessities of life to working people. Essentially what I mean by that is creating a government that works for working families, rather than the kind of government we have today which is largely owned and controlled by wealthy individuals and large corporations.

Getting more specific, he gives some examples:

If we go to some countries, what they will have is health care for all as a right. I believe in that. They will have paid family and medical leave. I believe in that. They will have a much stronger childcare system than we have, which is affordable for working families. I believe in that.

Sanders has often used Denmark as his example of democratic socialism, but there are just a few problems with this.

First of all, as Hillary Clinton has pointed out: “We are not Denmark. We are the United States of America.” This might sound like an excuse, but ideologues often make the mistake that just because a system works in one country, it will work just as well in another country. Just because England loves their monarchy doesn’t mean that we should elect someone as our king (but can’t you imagine Donald Trump running for the job).

Second, the Danish prime minister himself claims that Denmark is not at all socialist. Speaking at the Harvard School of Government this week, he said:

I know that some people in the US associate the Nordic model with some sort of socialism. Therefore I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy.

In fact, the current government of Denmark is a center-right coalition, and the second largest political party in Denmark is a hard-right one that is strongly anti-immigration.

Personally, I feel that Sanders is being loose with the term socialism. Socialism is where the state owns and controls the means of production. Examples of socialism in the US include our public streets and highways, our national parks and forests, and our military.

From his examples, it seems like Sanders is really talking about is our social safety net, or as some people might call it, creating a “welfare state”. But a welfare state is not the same thing as socialism.

If people are afraid of the word “socialism”, there is an easy solution. Why doesn’t Sanders just claim that socialism is what you have when you use social media? 🙂

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Weapons of Political Destruction

Tom Toles
© Tom Toles

Mission Accomplished?

Now the only question is, how long will Jeb hang on in the race?

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Late Night Political Humor

“New York has a team in the World Series and Donald Trump is no longer ahead in the polls — I think we’re back to normal, everyone!” – Jimmy Fallon

“In response to his drop to second in the polls, Donald Trump said today that he will run until the very end and does not mind running from behind. Trump says he knows what it’s like to be the underdog, because he wears one on his head.” – Seth Meyers

“Dr. Ben Carson, for the first time ever, leads Donald Trump in a new national poll. According to the new CBS News/New York Times poll, Carson at 26 percent, Trump is in second place with 22 percent. Jeb Bush only has 7 percent. Jeb Bush has officially become the most embarrassing member of the Bush family, even below Billy Bush.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“One of the top political Halloween costumes this year is Donald Trump. Meanwhile, even Jeb Bush doesn’t want to go out dressed as Jeb Bush.” – Conan O’Brien

“Former President George W. Bush yesterday spoke to voters on his brother’s behalf, and told them ‘one reason Jeb is going to win is because he’s a fierce competitor.’ Adding, ‘And one reason he’s going to lose is because of me.'” – Seth Meyers

“Chris Christie was kicked out of the Amtrak quiet car for making too much noise. Christie said it wasn’t him that was making the noise, it was his eight-pound block of peanut brittle.” – Conan O’Brien

“Paul Ryan finally agreed to run for Speaker of the House even though he’s repeatedly said he didn’t want to run. So basically, Paul Ryan is that guy at karaoke who just pretends like he doesn’t want to sing.” – Jimmy Fallon

“President Obama gave a speech in Chicago this afternoon and told police they have ‘work to do to restore trust’ in minority communities. It was going pretty well, but halfway through the speech, Obama got pulled over.” – Seth Meyers

“Russia is making plans to send four monkeys to Mars. Not as preparation for a human mission — but because the monkeys criticized Vladimir Putin.” – Conan O’Brien

“A cracker that survived the sinking of the Titanic sold today for $23,000. Experts say the 100-year-old Titanic cracker pairs very well with any hot dog from 7-Eleven.” – Conan O’Brien

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Main Blame?

Jeff Stahler
© Jeff Stahler

What? He didn’t blame it on Obama?

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Late Night Political Humor

“Joe Biden announced that he will not be running for president. He made the announcement with President Obama right by his side, and you could tell it was an emotional moment because at one point, Obama actually gave Biden a shoulder rub.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Following Joe Biden’s announcement that he will not run for office in 2016, Hillary Clinton said she is ‘confident that history isn’t finished with Joe Biden.’ Adding, ‘But I am! HA-HA!'” – Seth Meyers

“On ’60 Minutes,’ Vice President Joe Biden said he chose not to run for president because he couldn’t win. After hearing this, Bobby Jindal said, ‘Since when is that a reason not to run?'” – Conan O’Brien

“More good news for Hillary Clinton — Joe Biden is not running for president. As a voter I’m sad to lose Joe Biden but I can understand. Being a candidate sucks. It’s an ugly, nasty battle with a single bloody survivor. It’s like the hunger games. No, it’s more than that. It’s the hungry-for-power games!” – Stephen Colbert

“Analysts say Bernie Sanders has shifted his focus to more aggressive attacks on Hillary Clinton. In fact, Sanders is planning to go after her emails as soon as his granddaughter explains to him what an ’email’ is.” – Conan O’Brien

“Last week Democratic candidates Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb announced that they are dropping out of the race. Which raises the question, what if two trees fall in the forest and there’s nobody there to hear it?” – Jimmy Fallon

“Happy birthday to Hillary Clinton, who turned 68 today. It was the first time anyone has ever blown out the candles on a birthday cake and NOBODY wondered what they wished for.” – Seth Meyers

“Former President Bill Clinton served as the warm-up act for pop star Katy Perry at a rally for Hillary’s presidential campaign. Then he stood in the audience and yelled out, ‘Sing that one about you kissing another girl!'” – Seth Meyers

“Happy birthday to Hillary Clinton, who turned 68 today. When asked what her favorite gift was, she said, ‘Donald Trump’.” – Jimmy Fallon

“One of the top Halloween costumes this year is Donald Trump. Which is why this year, the phrase ‘trick-or-treat’ has been replaced with ‘gimme a Kit Kat or I’ll deport you’.” – Conan O’Brien

“A new poll conducted by the Associated Press shows a majority of Republican voters think Donald Trump is the most electable Republican candidate. Saying Donald Trump is the most electable candidate is like saying glazed is the healthiest doughnut. Is it possible people don’t know what the word electable means? Do they think it means delicious?” – Jimmy Kimmel

“During a town hall meeting, Donald Trump was asked by Matt Lauer if he is nice enough to be president. Trump answered, ‘Of course I’m nice enough, baldy.'” – Conan O’Brien

“Donald Trump said in an interview this weekend that Iraq is the ‘Harvard of terrorism.’ And he’s got a point: The only reason George W. Bush got into Iraq is because his dad went there.” – Seth Meyers

“Ben Carson now holds a 14-point lead over Donald Trump in Iowa. Experts say Carson appeals to Iowa’s conservatives, Iowa’s evangelicals, and both of Iowa’s black people.” –Conan O’Brien

“Some politicians attack people with words. Not Ben Carson. He uses knives and hammers. Hammers, plural. Let’s not forget this man is a brain surgeon. Ben Carson would be amazing at the game ‘two truths and a lie.’ He’s like, ‘I’m one of the world’s best brain surgeons, I stabbed my friend with a camping knife, and my favorite flavor is vanilla. Got you — it’s strawberry!’ “– James Corden

“Ben Carson tried to kill one of his friends with a camping knife, but sure, let’s keep talking about whether Hillary Clinton used Yahoo or Gmail.” – James Corden

“All the candidates are trying to reinvent themselves, but sometimes they try a little too hard. Jeb Bush last week tried to appeal to a younger, hipper audience when he called ‘Supergirl’ pretty hot. Jeb Bush calling ‘Supergirl’ pretty hot is something your stepdad says when he’s trying to connect with you.” – James Corden

“Meanwhile, Jeb Bush is trying to get momentum going by releasing a new book. It’s a collection of emails he sent and received when he was governor of Florida. The book is called ‘Reply all.’ Because nothing gets people excited like group email.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“In addition to the book, Jeb is launching the ‘Jeb can fix it’ tour. Their new slogan: ‘Jeb can fix it.’ Fix the election? That might be his only hope.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Researchers somewhere studied 75 brands of hot dogs and found some of them contained human DNA … I guess my bologna really does have a first name.” – Stephen Colbert

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