The Pope Unmasks Political Leaders

By Jeff Simpson 

We all know the Pope was in Washington DC yesterday.  

The start of a very interesting visit from a Great Man.   It even got started as cool as possible, when the Pope, who left his Popemobile at home and arrived in a Fiat.

Quite possibly though, the coolest thing the Pope did yesterday was snub a bipartisan coalition of politicians.

We now know why the United States Congress absolutely did not want Pope Francis to come to America. He makes them look like the complete as*holes they are. Obviously, Congress thought Pope Francis would be honored to dine with them, and all their pomp and prestige. They were wrong.

Pope Francis says he didn’t have the time because he already had a date eating with the homeless. In fact, he is not only going to be eating with them, but serving them. The meal will take place at St. Patrick’s Church in Washington, D.C.

Rather than try to write some great prose about this situation, Ring of Fire will simply quote Eric March from the website Upworthy, because he nailed it:

Unlike some of his predecessors, Francis has reminded journalists and world leaders time and time again that the church is for the poor, blasted the global financial system which causes so much poverty in the first place, and called on Catholics across the globe to take action and start lifting up the most vulnerable among them.

He’s also spoken out forcefully against economic inequality.

Including some of the worst, most exploitative labor practices in the world, which create conditions that allow hardship and desperation to thrive.

Blowing off John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi to serve the homeless is pretty much the kind of badassery we’ve come to expect from this pope when it comes to speaking up for the world’s most hard-up.

One noticeable thing that seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle is that none of the politicians offered to join Pope Francis and help serve the homeless.   Apparently helping them become homeless is all our politicians can handle.  

Luckily, we at CogDis were able to check the calendars and realize why the leaders in Congress were too busy to join the Pope yesterday for lunch.

*  Nancy Pelosi was to busy trying to get the Trans Pacific Partnership fast tracked.  
*  Harry Reid had to work on making sure we do not raise the minimum wage.
*  John Boehner was going to spend the day trying to figure out how to end the peace treaty with Iran.
*  Mitch McConnell was too embarrassed since he has blocked to many jobs bills and helped add to our homeless veteran problem throughout his career.  

* Bonus Calendar Check:  Wisconsin's own Super Catholic, Paul Ryan would have been there to help but he is not running for Vice President anymore and he is way too busy planning his anti poverty conference to worry about the homeless.  

I imagine the conversation going like this:

McConell;  Your Holiness would you like us to take you to lunch?  We have an expense account. 
Boehner:  As long as you don'd mind if I smoke.
Pope Francis:   Sorry I have plans to head to the church and feed the homeless. We could use some help.  
Pelosi:  Yea, ummm, well, ummm, I have to wash my hair.
Reid;  O sorry I have to take this call(exits left). 
Boehner/McConell:  Dont look at us.  

Legacy Hire Luke Russert Gets Schooled!

Legacy Hire and NBC's amateur reporter Luke Russert asks Nancy Pelosi, aren't you too old to be doing this?

Still looking for the video's where Russert poses the same question to John Boehner(63 years old) or Mitch McConnell ( 70 years old).  

Mitt's NAACP Gamble

We covered Mitt 's speech at the NAACP the other day where he brought up wanting to end Obamacare and was summarily booed! It turns out that was not the end of the story.  There is much more here, that shows that Mitt made an intentional gamble and we will see how it plays out.

According to the Washington Post, Mitt got EXACTLY what he was looking for:

Was he hoping to be booed, as Nancy Pelosi has suggested? Well, Romney himself told Neil Cavuto of Fox News that he’d fully expected the reaction he got. He can’t have been innocent of the fact that the term ‘Obamacare’ is a provocation to many Democrats. Or unaware that describing the president as someone who “has not, will not, cannot” create jobs went beyond just saying the rivals disagree. The post-boo brouhaha has been great for Romney. And given that the man is no fool, I vote that those dots don’t need much connecting.

The former Massachusetts governor didn’t go to the NAACP expecting to win votes. In fact, his true audience wasn’t the one in Houston, but the one in Montana, at a fund-raiser later the same day, where he bragged about giving his NAACP hosts heck:

“When I mentioned I am going to get rid of ‘Obamacare,’ they weren’t happy. I didn’t get the same response” as here. That’s OK; I want people to know what I stand for and if I don’t stand for what they want, go vote for someone else, that’s just fine. But I hope people understand this: Your friends who like ‘Obamacare,’ you remind them of this, if they want more stuff from government, tell them to go vote for the other guy — more free stuff. But don’t forget, nothing is really free.”

That he’s trumpeting to donors how he’s just disabused black voters of thinking they were gonna get “more free stuff” is indeed a bold move — boldly ugly, that is. Somewhere, Newt “Give Those Kids a Mop” Gingrich is thinking he and old Mitt have more in common than he knew.

Michael Tomasky from the Dailybeast was NOT so kind: 

 Until yesterday, I thought of Mitt Romney as a spineless, disingenuous, and supercilious but more or less decently intentioned person who at least wasn’t the race-mongering pyromaniac that some other Republican candidates of my lifetime have been. Then he gave his speech to the NAACP, and now I think of him as a spineless, disingenuous, supercilious, race-mongering pyromaniac who is very poorly intentioned indeed, and woe to us if this man sets foot in the White House as anything but a tourist.

The really strange story out of this whole thing, is that Mitt traveled with his own group of African Americans to make absolutely sure he got exactly what he wanted out of his NAACP speech. 

Many of Romney’s claims were debunked by Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy and the Director of the Washington Bureau of the NAACP, Hilary Shelton who said that the only African Americans Romney met with after his speech were those that he brought with him. Mr. Shelton explained that Mitt Romney flew in his own African-American supporters who were not affiliated with the NAACP, in order to have some people in the crowd cheering for him.

 It is sad, but not surprising,  that we are only in July and Mitt and the republicans think its necessary to rile up the far right racist element of their party.  It is sad, but not surprising,  that instead of talking issues they are trying to create a divide between the people.  It is sad, but not surprising, that with party "leaders' like Reince Priebus and Karl Rove that they are going to play the race card early and often(they do have a history of it).  Finally it is sad, but not surprising, that Mitt Romney just can not tell the truth!  

Finally, because it fits so well into this story, and outside of the most extreme fringe of the republican party, no one cares, but Dick Cheney went out on a huge limb and endorsed Mitt Rmoney! 

Just To Make Republican Heads Explode

Terry Bean and Nancy Pelosi dancing to ZZ Top at the Barney Frank wedding reception:



It's like a Republican's nightmare come true.

Newmann's Like Pelosi, But Walker Likes Pelosi

In what has to be becoming one of the most expensive oopsies in this year's silly season, Walker keeps putting his foot into it.

He started out with a smear campaign of sending out mailers comparing his opponent, Mark Neumann, to Nancy Pelosi because they voted for the same transportation bill in 1990s. He then flooded the airwaves on both TV and radio echoing the same charges.

But it turns out that Walker actually praised the bill when it was passed:

. . . Originally, $241 million of federal funds was set aside for use on the East-West Corridor. Specifically, the money could be used for a light rail system along the corridor or for the widening of I-94 to insert car pool and bus lanes…

. . . At that time, a group of Milwaukee County lawmakers objected to both proposals. Fast forward to May 1998. The same Milwaukee County lawmakers -- three Democrats and three Republicans -- applauded the change in the use of the $241 million and asked that the funds be used on local projects, including the reconstruction of the Marquette Interchange, the Zoo Interchange and on expanding support for the Milwaukee County Transit System.

In our opinion, supporting these projects is a better use of the funds and will ultimately save Milwaukee County taxpayers money.

Rep. Scott Walker
R-Wauwatosa

So, when Walker was comparing Neumann to Nancy Pelosi, maybe he actually meant it has a compliment.

Well, at least he waited more than 24 hours before flip-flopping this time.

I have seen many right wing pundits and their commenters trash Neumann for being hypocritical and negative. These same people say that they support Walker because he would run the government the same way he runs his campaign.

It must be true.

Give the recent events from his campaign, including all of the hypocrisy, the racially-tinged tweets and the insensitivity, and if he runs a government the same way he campaigns, is it any real wonder that Milwaukee County is in such a mess?