Does Pence Have Coronavirus Already-- And Who Has He Spread It To In The White House?

CoronavirusCzar Mike Pence by Nancy Ohanian

One in 10 members of the Iranian parliament (the Majlis) has tested positive for coronavirus. Yesterday, a close Pelosi ally in Congress told me she;'s considering adjourning Congress for "a while." The feeling in the non-denying House is that members of Congress are out in every corner of the country shaking hands and then coming back to Washington in close quarters with each other-- and then go blackout to their districts to shake hands with more people. Most Americans understand by now that Trump can be counted on to make every possible wrong decision at every turn-- and that he never appoints any good people to any jobs. And that includes, of course, battling coronavirus. Maybe Jared would have been a better pick than Pence for this one too, who, Trump said, was chosen because he doesn't have anything else to do. When I noticed on Monday, at AIPAC, that Paul Begala predicted that Trump is "gonna dump Mike Pence" for Nikki Haley on July 16-- presumably the day Bernie makes his acceptance speech-- I was, to put it mildly, dubious. But Begala went on that the excuse would be Pence's failure to handle the coronavirus, expected to be a catastrophic pandemic by then-- adequately.

"This is not a prediction. It’s a certainty. On Thursday, July 16-- that’s the date the Democrat gives his or her acceptance address-- on that day, to interrupt that narrative, Donald Trump will call a press conference at Mar-a-Lago. He’s going to dump Mike Pence and put Nikki Haley on the ticket to try to get those suburban moms. You watch. Guaranteed," Begala said. “Trump put Pence in charge of coronavirus to throw him under the bus."

Or... maybe not. Pence will be 61 in June. People over 50 who contract coronavirus have an extraordinary chance of dying, whereas people under 50 usually seem to weather it pretty well. And Pence may well already be carrying coronavirus. [WARNING to all DWT readers: do not get anywhere near Mike Pence, let alone shake hands with him!] Why?

Last Friday Pence was at a fundraiser in Longboat Key (Sarasota, Florida) at the home of Congressman Vern Buchanan, where he shook hands and posed for photos with a cadet from the Sarasota Military Academy who is now under quarantine after his mother-- who is also under quarantine-- come in contact with a patient who tested positive for coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that "The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus rose to six on Monday, and patients were being treated in at least 15 states, deepening fears about the outbreak's rapid spread and the medical, psychological and economic toll it will exact on the United States. Four deaths announced Monday and two others this weekend all occurred in Washington state, the center of the nation’s most serious outbreak. Eight of the state’s 18 cases, as well as four of the deaths, are linked to the Life Care Center nursing home in Kirkland, Wash., and at least 50 other residents and staff members have reported coronavirus-like symptoms. King County leaders declared a state of emergency, and health officials said they are trying to figure out how far the outbreak has expanded into surrounding counties. Nationwide, the number of cases topped 100, and U.S. officials used increasingly dire language, even as they sought to push back against waves of panic and misinformation online. 'We know there will be more cases,' Vice President Pence said at a White House news conference. 'Now we’re focused on mitigation of the spread as well as treatment of people that are affected.' Trump administration officials stressed Monday that the risk posed to the public by the coronavirus remains low but cautioned the outbreak could change course as the disease spreads through person-to-person contact."

Other states with confirmed coronavirus patients include Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. It's unlikely a vaccine will be available before 2022, but Trump noted on Monday that "the market’s up today... our country’s very strong economically." He then started whining about the Federal Reserve not doing enough (to prop up the economy and his case for reelection). That was a typical bear trap and Tuesday the Dow Jones was down over 786 points by the end of the day-- even after the Fed announced a half point interest rate cut. (Remember, they don't have too many half points left to cut, largely due to Trump's personal, self-serving agenda-- and the markets know it.)

Nationwide, signs of spreading panic included the stockpiling of food, sanitizers and cleaning supplies.

At the Trader Joe’s in Mountain View, Calif., the freezer sections were empty of pizza and most ready-made meals. There was no pasta or rice. Across town at the Costco near Google’s headquarters, customers climbed shelves to reach groceries, and lines snaked through the aisles.

A Whole Foods employee in Los Altos, Calif., said the store was out of “pasta, beans, frozen vegetables, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, paper towels. “I’ve worked here 10 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said.

Health officials continued to beg Americans to stop buying masks and save them for health workers who truly need them. On cable news, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams argued that consumers who buy masks “actually can increase the spread of coronavirus” because people who wear them improperly tend to fidget with their masks and touch their faces repeatedly.

Online, Amazon shoppers in Seattle, San Francisco, New York and Washington also ran into problems, with the company warning customers that its same-day grocery-delivery service “may be limited” amid reports of consumers stocking up.

...Meanwhile, worsening situations in various countries overseas offered possible signs of what may lie ahead for the United States.

Schools across Japan mostly closed their doors Monday in response to a controversial request by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week to make a concerted attempt to slow the spread of the virus.

South Korea said it would extend its school closures by two weeks to March 23, its education minister announced.

Japanese officials studying the outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise ship said more than half of those infected-- nealy 400 out of 705 people who tested positive-- showed no symptoms, underscoring just how difficult the virus is to detect and how many people may have contracted it without knowing it. Some would never have been tested unless they had been onboard the ship, they said. While many people appear able to shrug off the virus, it clearly is devastating to the elderly and people with underlying health problems. At least seven of the cruise ship passengers died.

The European Union’s internal market commissioner said Monday the coronavirus has led to about $1.1 billion in losses per month for the European tourism industry since the start of 2020. And British Airways on Monday said it was canceling hundreds of flights-- including a dozen between London and New York-- in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader died after contracting the coronavirus, state media reported Monday. Iraq and Egypt confirmed more cases, many of them linked to Iran.

Senegal confirmed its first case, marking the second case found in sub-Saharan Africa. Global health officials have expressed strong worries that the epidemic and death toll could grow rapidly if it reaches areas such as Africa, which in many places lacks the resources and the health infrastructure to combat the virus. Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country and biggest economy, announced last week that doctors had diagnosed the illness in a businessman from Italy.

Yesterday, The Guardian reported that "Pence’s public health record is disastrous. As the governor of Indiana, Pence was responsible for the largest HIV outbreak in state history. He slashed public health spending, triggering the closure of HIV testing sites. Against the advice of scientists, he banned needle exchanges, causing transmissions to spread due to increased needle sharing. Pence has also downplayed the link between smoking and cancer. 'Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media,' he once wrote in an opinion piece, 'smoking doesn’t kill.' In fact, research shows that as high as two out of three smokers die from a smoking-related illness. Pence’s track record should disqualify him for any leadership positions in public health... Pence’s appointment follows a track record of the administration prioritizing politics over scientific expertise. Trump has appointed fossil fuel lobbyists to lead the EPA, climate deniers to head up Nasa and the Council on Environmental Quality, Dow executives to USDA leadership, and a chemical industry insider to run the EPA’s toxic chemicals program. These appointments have eroded public trust and shifted the priorities of these agencies from saving lives to special interests... Now is the time for honest and humble governance. Viruses don’t discriminate between liberals and conservatives. Dedicated and talented government scientists are working hard to protect us all. We should allow them the freedom to get on with their important jobs."

Inside the Clinton Plan to Defeat Donald Trump

The Clinton campaign's strategy against Donald Trump, or Sherman's march to the sea? (Click to enlarge; source)

by Gaius Publius

I'm just presenting this, and genuinely for your information. I'd be shocked if the Clinton team weren't preparing to take on Donald Trump should Clinton win the nomination. New York Times writers Amy Chozik and Patrick Healy (we've discussed some of his work here) have sussed out details on that plan — or have had been the recipients of a campaign-orchestrated "leak" describing it:

This article is based on interviews with more than two dozen advisers, strategists and close allies of the Clintons, including several who have spoken directly with Mr. Clinton. Some spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss strategy publicly.

In addition, Ben Smith at Buzzfeed has gathered a characterization of their anti-Trump plans by Clinton insider Paul Begala, and added a characterization of his own that's a little more, shall we say, graphic.

Here's the information Chozik and Healy have received. Note that the piece was written just prior to Super Tuesday; my emphasis throughout.

Inside the Clinton Team’s Plan to Defeat Donald Trump

In the days after Donald J. Trump vanquished his Republican rivals in South Carolina and Nevada, prominent Democrats supporting Hillary Clinton arranged a series of meetings and conference calls to tackle a question many never thought they would ask: How do we defeat Mr. Trump in a general election?

Several Democrats argued that Mrs. Clinton, should she be her party’s nominee, would easily beat Mr. Trump. They were confident that his incendiary remarks about immigrants, women and Muslims would make him unacceptable to many Americans. They had faith that the growing electoral power of black, Hispanic and female voters would deliver a Clinton landslide if he were the Republican nominee.

But others, including former President Bill Clinton, dismissed those conclusions as denial. They said that Mr. Trump clearly had a keen sense of the electorate’s mood and that only a concerted campaign portraying him as dangerous and bigoted would win what both Clintons believe will be a close November election.

If that's their assessment, that a Trump–Clinton contest in November will be close, they are likely correct, and a great many people, including myself, agree.

There seem to be two parts of the plan, according to the Times. The first part involves the who and the messaging:

That strategy is beginning to take shape, with groups that support Mrs. Clinton preparing to script and test ads that would portray Mr. Trump as a misogynist and an enemy to the working class whose brash temper would put the nation and the world in grave danger. The plan is for those themes to be amplified later by two prominent surrogates: To fight Mr. Trump’s ability to sway the news cycle, Mr. Clinton would not hold back on the stump, and President Obama has told allies he would gleefully portray Mr. Trump as incapable of handling the duties of the Oval Office.

The second part involves the style of the campaign:

An All-Out Assault

While Mrs. Clinton radiates positive energy on the trail, Democratic groups are beginning to coalesce around a strategy to deliver sustained and brutal attacks on Mr. Trump.

The plan has three major thrusts: Portray Mr. Trump as a heartless businessman who has worked against the interests of the working-class voters he now appeals to; broadcast the degrading comments he has made against women in order to sway suburban women, who have been reluctant to support Mrs. Clinton; and highlight his brash, explosive temper to show he is unsuited to be commander in chief.

American Bridge, a pro-Clinton “super PAC,” has formed a “due diligence unit” of tax and business experts who are poring over Securities and Exchange Commission documents and court records related to Mr. Trump’s business career.

A staff member for an affiliated group, Correct the Record, which coordinates with Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, has collected footage of comments that have not hurt Mr. Trump’s standing among Republican primary voters, but that could be stitched together in what the group’s founder, David Brock, described as a montage of hateful speech that would appall a general electorate.

All very reasonable sounding; very professional. Here's another look at what "an all-out assault" might mean.

"The Only Strategy For Hillary Clinton Is To Scorch The Earth"

Here's another characterization of that "all-out assault" and what it might look like. It comes from Ben Smith at Buzzfeed, who gets his information from, among others, Paul Begala, a Clinton insider (again, my emphasis):

The Only Strategy For Hillary Clinton Is To Scorch The Earth

If Hillary Clinton manages to beat Bernie Sanders, the early primaries have already revealed that there’s only one strategy for the general election against a Republican, be it Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, or Ted Cruz: Scorch the earth.

There was a scenario, which looks more like a fantasy, in which Clinton was a movement. Women in their twenties, thirties, and forties would rally to her the way black Americans rallied to Obama; she would run on her own mantle of change.

In reality, nobody is that excited about Hillary Clinton, and young voters, women and men — the foot soldiers of any Democratic Party movement — aren’t coming around. She lost a resounding 82% of voters under 30 in Nevada. Her campaign now rests on the hope that voters of color like her well enough, if nowhere near as much as they like Obama. And that means that when she faces a Republican, she will have to destroy him — something the people who will be doing the destroying acknowledged when I asked them earlier this month.

“The [expected campaign] slogan is ‘Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid,’” said Paul Begala, who is an adviser to the pro-Clinton super PAC Priorities USA. ...

Note that this was also written just prior to Super Tuesday, and that Clinton's wish for "voters of color" to support her in large numbers came true in the South. That level of support is proving less true in places like Michigan, however, where Sanders has made inroads into many non-white communities.

"Scorch the earth"? Really?

My main takeaway, though, is also Smith's main point. He notes that in a campaign where "nobody is that excited" about the candidate, and yet where the opposition is truly horrible, the only way to win is to ... scorch the earth.

If that's the case, that Clinton is the nominee and the campaign is a firestorm of mutual destruction, can you imagine what it will be like to live in this country and watch that?

Ben Smith says "don’t expect 2016 to be a fond political memory." Quite the understatement. Again, offered for your information.

(Blue America has endorsed Bernie Sanders for president. If you'd like to help out, go here. If you'd like to "phone-bank for Bernie," go here. You can volunteer in other ways by going here. And thanks!)

GP
 

Politicians Who Play Footsie With Interests That Use Money To Dominate Politics Open Themselves Up For Career-Ending Events

On Wednesday morning, ace investigative journalist, Lee Fang, exposed some classic hypocrisy by corrupt Blue Dog Tim Holden (PA). Holden is being pummeled in his losing reelection campaign by progressive groups-- like Blue America, Progressive Kick and the League of Conservation Voters-- because of his ultra-conservative voting record in Congress. But a non-ideological SuperPAC, Campaign for Primary Accountability is also clobbering him, not on behalf of Matt Cartwright, the progressive in the race, but because they want to rid Congress of corrupt members-- from both sides of the aisle. They were, for example, largely responsible for defeating Mean Jean Schmidt (R-OH) and, with the help of clueless Republicans Aaron Schock and Eric Cantor, Dan Manzullo (R-IL). The PAC's main financial backer is an eccentric millionaire in Texas named Leo Linbeck, a far right wing financier. Unsurprisingly, Holden’s campaign is decrying the influence of big money in politics:

Holden’s campaign condemned the influence of Super PACs, political organizations that cannot make contributions to candidates, campaigns or parties and must spend contributions independently. Super PACs, which are allowed under a 2010 Supreme Court Decision, give corporations, unions and other organizations the ability to spend unlimited money in an effort to sway the outcome of elections.

“Tim Holden is firmly opposed to Super PACs and believes that voters are supposed to decide elections, not corporations from outside the 17th District,” campaign manager Eric Nagy said.

While most Democrats in Congress (and a few Republicans) have rallied around the need for more disclosure and better campaign finance rules in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to allow corporate money in elections, the pro-corporate Blue Dog caucus has often sided with big business.

On June 24, 2010, Holden had a chance to weaken to power of Super PACS and add disclosure and new restraints to the campaign finance system when the DISCLOSE Act came up for a vote. The legislation contained a package of campaign finance reforms, including a prohibition of foreign entities from spending on American political campaigns, stopping certain contractors who get large sums of government money from lobbying, and requiring many groups to disclose their funding in campaign materials. Holden, however, sided with corporate lobbyists and most of the GOP in voting no.

Now, he’s complaining.

35 other Democrats, most of them corrupt conservatives, crossed the aisle to vote with Holden and his Republican chums and most of them were defeated in the 2010 Blue Dog Apocalypse. A few, like Holden, are still crawling around sucking up to lobbyists and betraying the trust of working families, like Mark Critz, another Pennsylvania conservative fighting for his worthless political life in a primary next Tuesday and the DCCC's favorite Blue Dog Mike McIntyre (NC).

Yesterday Greg Sargent reported on the unpleasantness around the SuperPAC phenom in his Post column. Did Obama and the Democrats take the threat seriously enough? I bet they wish they had focussed on it a little more diligently.

Today’s New York Times reports an eye-popping figure: The pro-Romney forces may be able to raise and spend no less than $1 billion to oust President Obama. That number could climb considerably higher, if the fundraising by Romney-aligned outside groups is a success.

Which raises a question: Why is Dem outside-group fundraising failing to keep pace?

“The fact that the Romney forces are going to be able to amass at least $1 billion dollars should be a tremendous wake up call for our side,” Paul Begala, an adviser to Priorities USA, the main pro-Obama outside group, tells me.

Media reports have speculated that the Obama campaign will raise $1 billion for reelection, but the campaign vigorously disputes this. Meanwhile, Priorities USA and Priorities USA Action have only raised a combined $10 million. That sum was matched by a single anonymous GOP donor who quietly handed the Rove-founded Crossroads GPS a $10 million check the other day.

I asked Begala why Dems are lagging behind. He gave three reasons. The first: Dem donors are used to an outdated calendar. The air wars designed to establish the frame of the election are getting under way far earlier in the new era.

“Dems are used to giving late-- we’d have an ad blitz in the last eight weeks, but before then it would be all about building up the ground game,” Begala said. “Now we’ve got a different timetable. We want to define Romney now, as he’s trying to define himself.”

“The second reason is that our donors are not transactional,” Begala continued. “For the Koch brothers, this is a straight return on an investment deal.” A Republican president, Begala continued, “would preserve tax breaks for their oil companies and kill off Obama’s investments in green energy.”

Begala’s third reason: “Many progressive donors think President Obama has it in the bag. But he doesn’t even have it in the shopping cart yet, much less in the bag.”

That's why it's even more important for progressives to not waste a nickel on groups supporting faithless conservative Democrats and Blue Dogs, like the DCCC. It's why we constantly urge people to contribute directly to candidates who share your values and political passions. The DCCC, for example, is spending a ton of money on corporate shills who voted with the GOP on crucial issues-- like the DISCLOSE Act-- and on core principles like freedom of Choice for women. If you contribute to the DCCC most of that money will be wasted on overhead, corruption and reactionary incumbents like Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC), John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT), Ben Chandler (Blue Dog-KY) and Larry Kissell (NC), all of whom have Republican voting records. If you want to find progressive Democrats to support instead... look no further.

Meanwhile, keep in mind that Blue Dogs-- financed by the same shady special interests and Wall Street crooks that finance the GOP-- are not giving up Holden without a fight. Late yesterday, Center Forward, the deceptively named anti-working family Blue Dog pack headed by far right Alabama ex-congressman-turned-lobbyist Bud Cramer, launched a coordinated attack on Matt Cartwright, claiming he's "too liberal." They're spending $100,000 on the attack ad, money that comes from traditionally anti-Democratic sources who fear candidates like Cartwright who are not corrupt and who focus on serving ordinary working families, rather than Wall Street. The board of Center Forward is composed of 5 of the most notoriously corrupt lobbyists Inside the Beltway-- besides Cramer (who works for he sleazy Wexler Walker and Associates), you have 2 Blue Dog ex-congressmen, John Tanner (a lobbyist for Prime Policy Group) and Baron Hill (of APCO), as well as Vickie Walling (also of Prime Policy) and Libby Greer (of Cauthen Forbes & Williams), 5 corporate shills working for 4 firms specializing in assaulting the American taxpayers on behalf of Big Oil, hedge funds and Wall Street speculators. That's the company that Tim Holden keeps.

No New Texans!

The GOP Establishment-- call it plutocracy or fascism... it's the elites who run the right-wing show-- smells blood in the water... Obama's. They're positive they can beat him in 2012, sweep Congress and roll back what's ever left of the New Deal and maybe even democracy, which they've always detested, itself. The moron zombie base is worked up and ready to consign its future generations to slavery and Democrats are depressed and deflated by Obama's shocking conservatism. But they know-- like Obama knows-- that his best chance for a second term rests with an over the top Republican nominee. And, as the corndog and fried-butter-on-a-stick eaters at this weekend's Ames straw poll proved, that's exactly what the Republican base wants. They picked, overwhelmingly, the craziest, least electable candidates. Romney, the anointed candidate of the Establishment-- who, regardless of what the base (and Obama) want, will be the GOP nominee-- barely made a blip, with a dismal 7th place finish, even below joke candidates Rick Santorum and Herman "the Hermanator" Cain.

Texas Governor Rick Perry announced his intention to run on the sane day as the Ames straw poll. He was drafted by the Republican Establishment. His job is to knock out Bachmann. The Roves and Aileses and their plutocratic/fascist backers don't care if Perry manages to go all the way or if he just winds up as Romney's VP nominee... they just want Bachmann and her crazy eyes and her closet case psychotic husband out of the race as soon as possible.

Less than a month ago we looked at a laundry list of reasons many on the far right fringes-- i.e., the typical GOP activist-- can't embrace Perry. (Yesterday Think Progress had a more all-encompassing laundry list worth taking a look at.) But this seems to be as big a problem for him as Romneycare and the consistent pattern of flip-flopping are for Mitt:

Perhaps the biggest issue people opposed to the nanny state should be concerned about is Perry's issuance of an executive order back in 2007 that would have forced almost every single girl in the state of Texas to receive the Gardasil vaccine before entering the sixth grade. Perry was in the tank with Merck. There were apparent financial connections between Merck and Perry reported by news outlets, such as a $6,000 campaign contribution and Merck’s hiring of former Perry Chief of Staff Mike Toomey to handle its Texas lobbying work.

The Texas legislature put the kibosh on that idea by crafting a bill that overturned the executive order.

Subsequently, very serious safety issues with the vaccine came to light. The biggest problem with regard to the Gardasil issue was that Perry appeared to be condoning premarital sex, or at least assuming that middle school girls were going to be engaging in sexual activity, which is the only way that the cervical cancer that the vaccine prevents can be contracted. Many parents and conservatives were justifiably outraged.

When one takes into account these facts about Rick Perry, the only conclusion that can be reached is that Perry is for the expansion of government and its intrusion into our lives.

The new Texas Monthly is running a major feature on how Perry keeps winning-- 10 elections in a row, some against formidable opponents. He may come off like a pathetic lightweight unfit to run a rural post office but he's managed to beat Jim Hightower, John Sharp, Tony Sanchez, Chris Bell, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Bill White-- all of whom are interviewed in the Monthly story.

Saturday's Wall Street Journal opinion page, though, exposed a weakness in the Perry armor that could be deadly-- in fact, a weakness that could be as disturbing for many on the right as it will certainly be for normal Americans. The scandal has been kept in the public eye partially because of carping by teabaggers who see Perry as a phony baloney hack politician and a willing servant for the Establishment they sometimes vestigially sense is their enemy.

Gov. Rick Perry's presidential pitch goes something like this: During one of the worst recessions in American history, he's kept his state "open for business." In the last two years, Texas created over a quarter of a million jobs, meaning that the state's 8% unemployment rate is substantially lower than the rest of the nation's. The governor credits this exceptional growth to things like low taxes and tort reform.

It's a strong message. But one of the governor's signature economic development initiatives-- the Texas Emerging Technology Fund-- has lately raised serious questions among some conservatives.

The Emerging Technology Fund was created at Mr. Perry's behest in 2005 to act as a kind of public-sector venture capital firm, largely to provide funding for tech start-ups in Texas. Since then, the fund has committed nearly $200 million of taxpayer money to fund 133 companies. Mr. Perry told a group of CEOs in May that the fund's "strategic investments are what's helping us keep groundbreaking innovations in the state." The governor, together with the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the Texas House, enjoys ultimate decision-making power over the fund's investments.

Among the companies that the Emerging Technology Fund has invested in is Convergen LifeSciences, Inc. It received a $4.5 million grant last year-- the second largest grant in the history of the fund. The founder and executive chairman of Convergen is David G. Nance.

In 2009, when Mr. Nance submitted his application for a $4.5 million Emerging Technology Fund grant for Convergen, he and his partners had invested only $1,000 of their own money into their new company, according to documentation prepared by the governor's office in February 2010. But over the years, Mr. Nance managed to invest a lot more than $1,000 in Mr. Perry. Texas Ethics Commission records show that Mr. Nance donated $75,000 to Mr. Perry's campaigns between 2001 and 2006.

The regional panel that reviewed Convergen's application turned down the company's $4.5 million request when it presented its proposal on Oct. 7, 2009. But Mr. Nance appealed that decision directly to a statewide advisory committee (of which Mr. Nance was once a member) appointed by Mr. Perry. Just eight days later, on Oct. 15, a subcommittee unanimously recommended approval by the full statewide committee. On Oct. 29, the full advisory committee unanimously recommended the approval of Convergen's application. When asked why the advisory committee felt comfortable recommending Convergen's grant, Lucy Nashed, a spokesperson for Mr. Perry, said that the committee "thoroughly vetted the company."

Starting in 2008, Mr. Perry also appropriated approximately $2 million in federal taxpayer money through the auspices of the Wagner-Peyser Act-- a federal works program founded during the New Deal and overseen in Texas by Mr. Perry's office-- to a nonprofit launched by Mr. Nance called Innovate Texas. The nonprofit was meant to help entrepreneurs by linking them to investors. It began receiving funding on Dec. 31, 2008, soon after Mr. Nance's previous company, Introgen Therapeutics, declared bankruptcy on Dec. 3. According to state records, Mr. Nance paid himself $250,000 for the two years he ran Innovate Texas. Innovate Texas, whose listed phone number is not a working number, could not be reached for comment. (Two phone calls left for Mr. Nance at Convergen's offices went unreturned.)

ThromboVision, Inc., a medical imaging company, was also the recipient of an award from the Emerging Technology Fund: It received $1.5 million in 2007. Charles Tate, a major Perry contributor, served as the chairman of a state committee that reviewed ThromboVision's application for state funding, and Mr. Tate voted to give ThromboVision the public money. One month after ThromboVision received notification that it would receive a $1.5 million state grant in April 2007, Mr. Tate invested his own money in ThromboVision, according to the Dallas Morning News. The Texas paper later found that by 2010 Mr. Tate owned a total of 200,000 preferred shares in ThromboVision.

According to a Texas state auditor's report, ThromboVision failed to submit required annual reports to the fund from 2008 through 2010, when the company went bankrupt. The report noted the tech fund's managers were "unaware of ThromboVision, Inc.'s bankruptcy until after the bankruptcy had been reported in a newspaper." ThromboVision's bankruptcy filing revealed not only that Mr. Tate had been a preferred shareholder in ThromboVision, but so had prominent Perry supporter Charles Miller, who owned 250,000 preferred shares in the company and has donated $125,000 to the governor's campaigns. Three phone calls and an email seeking Mr. Tate's side of the story went unreturned.

All told, the Dallas Morning News has found that some $16 million from the tech fund has gone to firms in which major Perry contributors were either investors or officers, and $27 million from the fund has gone to companies founded or advised by six advisory board members. The tangle of interests surrounding the fund has raised eyebrows throughout the state, especially among conservatives who think the fund is a misplaced use of taxpayer dollars to start with.

"It is fundamentally immoral and arrogant," says state representative David Simpson, a tea party-backed freshman from Longview, two hours east of Dallas. The fund "opened the door to the appearance of impropriety, if not actual impropriety."

...Michael Quinn Sullivan, the president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, sees in the Emerging Technology Fund a classic example of the perils of government pork. "The problem with these kinds of funds is that even when they're used with the best of intentions, it looks bad," says Mr. Sullivan. "You're taking from the average taxpayer and giving to someone who has a connection with government officials."

I got an e-mail this weekend from Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett. He knows Perry well-- and knows what a disaster he's been for ordinary working families in their state. He was sounding the alarm. Here's Doggett's interview Friday on MSNBC:

Maybe Rick Perry did the right thing last Saturday when he asked for America to join him in prayer. Considering the disaster that has been his governorship in Texas, we need every prayer we can get as we try to sort this mess out.

...There is no more extreme, no more disagreeable candidate than Rick Perry.  Want to know just how right-wing Rick Perry is? As Governor of Texas, he even implied that secession was a possibility. That’s right, the Rick Perry, who wants to be President of the United States of America is the same Rick Perry who provided comfort to those Texans, who have supported disuniting from America and seceding.

    •    This is the same Rick Perry whose answer to Texas being the state with the highest percentage of folks without health insurance is to do even less here, while questioning the very existence of Medicare.  

    •    This is the same Rick Perry who has undermined our future economic competitiveness by slashing budgets for primary and secondary education and undermining our institutions of higher learning. 

    •    This is the same Rick Perry that dangerously disregards the importance of protecting the water we drink and the air we breath. Texas now leads the nation in clean-water permit violations in the nation, hazardous waste spills and toxic emissions.

Doggett is hardly the only Democrat sounding the alarm. Paul Begala, who's known him nearly 3 decades-- back when Perry was a freshman Democratic state legislator (nicknamed "Crotch")-- did a good job at the Daily Beast this weekend. "Perry stood out," Begala remembers, "for his modest intellectual gifts... But lack of brains has never been a hindrance in politics." What Begala claims Perry has-- aside from nice hair-- is the willingness to say or do whatever it takes to win, no matter what the ancillary harm. That's the classic definition of a sociopath.

That's truer than ever in relation to today's Tea Party–dominated Republican Party. You’ve gotta be willing to do anything, say anything, accept anything, propose anything, endorse anything, pledge anything. There is nothing too batshit for these people.

Watch your back, Mitt.

More on Fox Noise's Carville-Begala-Clinton fantasy: This would be hilarious if it weren't so . . . oh heck, it's still pretty darned funny

"My worry is that if this is what one of Fox's best and most respected reporters is doing, what are the hacks up to?"
--Paul Begala, in his HuffPost account of the "surrealistic" day he spent Tuesday trapped in a make-believe Fox Noise story (see below)

In the real world, the news that Fox Noise just "reports" shit without regard to whether it's true would hardly be news. Is there anyone who actually believes that the Fox minions are in the news business?

Alas, we don't live in the real world. We live in Bushworld--or, rather, a world in which reality is subject to override by the sometimes delusional, sometimes just plain demagogic manipulation of the unholy Right-Wing Noise Machine. Hence the famous Fox Noise Motto:

"We Blow It Out Our Ass, You Dumb Shits (Dear Gawd!) Just Seem to Lap It Up"

So we return to the Fox Noise "scoop": that the floundering Hillary Clinton campaign had called in the cavalry in the form of James Carville and Paul Begala (above), who had played such a vital role in getting Bill Clinton into the White House, as some sort of advisers. You remember, the bullshit that prompted this tart response from Carville, reported by Greg Sargent on TPM Election Central, which we passed on yesterday:

"Fox was, is and will continue to be an asinine and ignorant network. I have not spoken to anyone in the Clinton campaign about this. I have not done domestic political consulting since President Clinton was elected. I'm not getting back into domestic political consulting. If I do go back, it would be safe to say that I'm the biggest liar in America."

Asked if he knew whether Begala would be coming back, Carville continued:

"To the extent that I know anything, as of nine this morning, no he is not."

(This was passed on to us, you may recall, by a friend with the note: "Every now and then Carville reminds me of why I used to love him.")

Well, it gets better. The TPM report included an update with Begala's categorical denial. Now we learn from Begala that he repeatedly informed the Fox Noiseman in question, whom he describes as "a good guy whom I've known for years," that there was no truth whatsoever to his serial reports. ("No doubt someone is telling you this stuff about me. It's just not true.") And Fox just kept on "reporting" the "story."

Finally Begala turned to Huffington Post to tell his story:

PAUL BEGALA

Fox News: We Report--Even if We Know It's False

Posted January 9, 2008

I've been dealing with the media and politics for 25 years, but I've never had a more surrealistic day than January 8. Several times that day Fox News reported that I was joining Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was a big story - at least until the stunning election returns.

The only problem was, it wasn't true.

Fox News never even tried to contact me to verify their story, and when I contacted Fox, I felt like a character in a Kafka novel -- or at least Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Fox's Major Garrett -- a good guy whom I've known for years -- broke the story. My phone started ringing off the hook, and my email box bulged. There are still, thank goodness, a lot of real journalists out there. Tim Russert was first. I assured him it wasn't true, he thanked me for waving him off a false story, and that was that. Then my own network, CNN, called. I told them if I were quitting CNN that CNN would know before Fox News. Soon after, others called or emailed: Jonathan Alter of Newsweek, George Stephanopoulos and Teddy Davis of ABC, Beth Fouhy of AP, Mark Halperin of Time, John Harris of the Politico, Jill Lawrence of USA Today, Peter Baker of the Washington Post, Patrick Healy of the New York Times, David Gregory of NBC and Bill Sammon of the Examiner. There were probably more. I list the names only to give credit to journalists who behaved like reporters, not repeaters.

After I told Fox it wasn't true -- and this is the surreal part -- they kept reporting it anyway. In fact, Fox's Garrett told me he'd "take it under advisement." Take it under advisement? I realize I'm generally seen as just another liberal with an opinion, but this was not a matter of opinion, it was a matter of fact. Fox now knew their story was flatly, factually wrong, and they took it "under advisement."

Apparently that meant repeating the falsehood with added detail: the "fact" that I had been on a conference call the previous day with the Hillary high command. Again, false. My worry is that if this is what one of Fox's best and most respected reporters is doing, what are the hacks up to?

I exchanged several civil emails with Garrett -- and append them to this post. They are not nuanced. Read them for yourself. I report, you decide.

----- Original Message -----
From: Begala, Paul
To: Garrett, Major
Sent: Tue Jan 08 14:18:37 2008
Subject: N.H.D.
Major,
I know you're swamped, and I hate to bother you on such a busy news day, but whoever told you I am joining Hillary's campaign fed you some bum info. It's just not true. Or as I say to my boys, N.H.D. Not. Happening. Dude.
I'm not coming in as a volunteer, or as an adviser, or as a strategist or anything else. I have contributed to her campaign, and am convinced she would be a great President. But I am not joining the campaign in any form or fashion.
Again, I know how busy you are, but I'd sure appreciate you checking with me before you go with a story about me. This email is always a good way to reach me.
Thanks a lot.
All best,

Paul Begala

________________________________


From: Garrett, Major
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 2:31 PM
To: Begala, Paul
Subject: Re: N.H.D.


Paul:
I genuinely appreciate the e-mail.
I will take it under advisement.
And I look forward to discussing all aspects of the campaign with you in the future.
All best,
Major

Major Garrett, Congressional Correspondent, Fox News


----- Original Message -----
From: Begala, Paul
To: Garrett, Major
Sent: Tue Jan 08 15:18:16 2008
Subject: RE: N.H.D.

Major,

Just heard you say I was on a conference call with Hillary's campaign yesterday. That's not true. I was not on any conference call with Hillary's campaign - and have had no contact with her campaign for months. No one from her campaign has contacted me -- nor have I contacted them -- and I am not joining in any capacity, paid or unpaid, official or unofficial. I feel like that old Lorrie Morgan song, "What part of 'no' don't you understand?"

I have a lot of respect for you, and I like you, but I've got to ask you again to check with me before you go with a story about me. Someone is misleading you, and it is not me.

Again, I know the challenges of 24-hour news, and this is a crazy environment, but you can almost always reach me at this email address.

All best,

Paul

From: Garrett, Major
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 3:32 PM
To: Begala, Paul
Subject: Re: N.H.D.

Paul:
You know me well enough to know I am not trying to screw you.
You also know, or should know, that I'm careful and don't have a reputation for pulling stories out of my ass.
I'm not now. The sourcing is strong, very strong, or I wouldn't go with it.
I appreciate your e-mails and I redouble my efforts with each one I receive.
Please feel free to call me at any hour of any day.

Best,
Major

Major Garrett, Congressional Correspondent, Fox News


----- Original Message -----
From: Begala, Paul
To: Garrett, Major
Sent: Tue Jan 08 15:41 2008
Subject: RE: N.H.D.

Major,

Thanks so much for getting back to me. I do know you, and I like and respect you. You know me as well, and I would not lie to you, would not mislead you. And I am telling you that whoever told you I was on a conference call with Hillary's campaign was wrong. I'm quite sure that you're not making this up, so please don't misunderstand me. No doubt someone is telling you this stuff about me. It's just not true.

If my wife hears one more report that I'm joining Hillary's campaign I'm going to have to go in the Pundit Protection Program.

Thanks,

Paul

You just can't make this stuff up. Well, apparently not unless you're Fox Noise.

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Quote of the day: James Carville pays fitting tribute to the fair-and-balanced folks at Fox Noise

"Fox was, is and will continue to be an asinine and ignorant network."
--James Carville, as reported by Greg Sargent on TPM Election Central

An e-pal passed this item along with the note: "Every now and then Carville reminds me of why I used to love him."

James Carville Emphatically Denies That He's Going To Work For Hillary
By Greg Sargent - January 8, 2008, 12:43PM

Fox News just reported that James Carville and Paul Begala will be re-entering the Clinton orbit by coming in to work for Hillary as senior campaign volunteers as early as tomorrow -- the idea being that they're being brought in to right Ship Hillary in the wake of.her Iowa loss and possible New Hampshire one.

The storyline of choice here, obviously, is that Bill's Bad Boys of 1992 are riding back in to rescue his wife from electoral disaster.

I just reached Carville on his cell. Here's what he had to say about this:

"Fox was, is and will continue to be an asinine and ignorant network. I have not spoken to anyone in the Clinton campaign about this. I have not done domestic political consulting since President Clinton was elected. I'm not getting back into domestic political consulting. If I do go back, it would be safe to say that I'm the biggest liar in America."

Asked if he knew whether Begala would be coming back, Carville continued:

"To the extent that I know anything, as of nine this morning, no he is not."

Oh, well. There goes that narrative.

Late Update: Ben Smith gets a denial from Begala, too: "As I say to the boys: N.H.D. Not Happenin' Dude."

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