"I wish I could understand why McConnell perceives President Obama as being more liberal than Candidate Obama."

It's called lying Steve. And it works!

Modest-because it's paid for? God forbid we add to the debt to boost the economy. Or is it, God forbid we boost the economy before the elections?

Alas, Republican strategy is only to borrow money from China to through at the very wealthy. Lose-lose-lose for everyone but them.

The entire point here is that Republicans have no interest in governance, just power. They'll reward their friends, punish their enemies, and give everyone else the finger. Once you unshackle yourself from the need to craft coherent policy, a whole new world opens up. Or should I say abyss?

Why all turns are right turns...

"I wish I could understand why McConnell perceives President Obama as being more liberal than Candidate Obama."

It's called framing everything from the extreme right, so that the debate's center becomes center-right. This Peter Daou report over at Steve Clemmon's blog is brilliant. We've talked about this a 1000 times. But the graph there (The Overton Window of Political Possibility) is definitely worth a 1000 comments.

Here are Daou's ledes:

There is a simple formula for rightwing dominance of our national debate, even when Democrats are in charge: move the conversation as extreme right as possible, then compromise toward the far right. It's negotiation 101.

And it's completely lost on Democrats.

It's what John Boehner knows that Obama and Democrats can't seem to get a clue about:

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) will call Tuesday for the mass firing of the Obama administration's economic team, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House adviser Larry Summers, arguing that November's midterm elections are shaping up as a referendum on sustained unemployment across the nation and saying the "writing is on the wall."

In one fell swoop, this is the starting point of a conversation. For Democrats it would be an end point -- if they ever reached it.

Go see the graph!

A video of steve jobs describing the nature of branding may prove valuable to you, if you actually would like to understand Mitchell and the GOP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmG9jzCHtSQ

The crux of the point is:

The milk industry spent 30 years trying to describe why milk is good for you ( true or no .. ).

without that message having a massive effect on the market place.

Then they came up with "Got Milk?" ... and BOOOM ... there was the massive effect.

Humans are rationalizing not rational ...
so crafting an explanation-based message ... doesn't necessarily convince many...

The GOP has mastered messaging ... unfortunately there's no substance behind it.

The Democrats have yet to approach an understanding of messaging. Instead they are lost with "I don't understand why an explanation doesn't work" ...

hope this helps. wish it could help the Dems messaging ...

And another thing: the country is perceived to be "center right" because the far right voices deafen everyone with their screams. When they pause for breath, cable news goes to the "center right" for comment. The "center left" and left have no voice at all. Seriously, when is the last time you saw someone as liberal as Beck is conservative on ABC, CBS or NBC? Umm... never?

In all competitions it's the action packed, flashy, attention getting offenses (offensives?) that sell tickets and the hardly noticed, sometimes boring, defenses that win games and championships. If the Democrat voters stay focused and show up in November we can win.

[...] new reports continue to prove that the Affordable Care Act will help, not hurt, employers, especially small businesses. -- Steve Benen

The embeded link leads to "white house govt blog"... In Poland, we have a saying "everyone measures others with his own ruler". When I see a link to something issued by AEI, I don't bother reading it, because I assume, automatically, that it'll be full of lies. I dare say that's the same reaction that the right wing gets when they see something issued by the (current) White House. Why then should we expect them to be swayed by the contents of that posting (or the studies)?

Mitch isn't confused. He knows what he's saying is bullshit and that the media will not ask follow-up questions and call him on his bullshit. He can say anything he wants. It's all about getting back power in November.

The GOP obviously never listened when Obama was campaigning. They simply thought that McCain or Clinton would win. Why should they pay attention to "That one".

McConnell couldn't find the political center with a map and a GPS.

"I wish I could understand why McConnell perceives President Obama as being more liberal than Candidate Obama." —Steve Benen 3:50 PM

As has been well and repeatedly stated by now, it's because it's one of the many standard Publican lies.
This one is of a piece with the time-honored (read: shopworn) Publican meme that whatever Dem Senator (current or former) is threatening them at the moment is always "the most liberal Senator."
If you've been keeping track (and even if you haven't), the "most liberal Senator" has of late been Kerry, Edwards (back when he mattered), Clinton, Obama, and God knows how many others... but Vermont's Bernie Sanders, an actual socialist who identifies himself as such? Never earned that tag.
So why are we talking about this again?