How to decode a press release from NE Sen. Ben Sasse

Sasse Statement on Supreme Court Same-Sex Marriage Ruling:

Today’s ruling is a disappointment to Nebraskans who understand that marriage brings Margaret and Jim Anderson a wife and husband together so Betty, Bud and Kathy their children can have a mom and dad. As for single and gay parents, they don't matter because they're not part of the 50s family fantasy I'm using to distract people from the fact that the corporations I really represent are screwing them into the ground as they decimate jobs and what's left of upward mobility in America.
     The Supreme Court once again overstepped its Constitutional role by ruling on an equal protection / due process matter brought to it acting as a super-legislature and imposing its own definition of marriage on the American people rather than allowing civil rights to be voted on like the Miss Congeniality contest in a Trump Beauty Pageant voters to decide in the states.
    “As a society, we need to celebrate marriage as the best way to provide stability and opportunity for kids. Unless they were adopted by gay couples because their straight parents were fuckups, in which case screw them.
     As President Obama has said, there are good people on both sides of the issue. Obviously I don't personally believe this or I wouldn't kick 50,000 Nebraska gay constituents to the curb every time there's an issue. It's just a rhetorical fig leaf.
     I hope we all can agree that our neighbors deserve the freedom to live out their religious convictions by cherry picking which laws they want to obey. This does not apply to the moral or ethical convictions atheists or agnostics, of course.

Gay Marriage Sore Loser: Ben Sasse

Sens. Fischer, Sasse unconcerned about outrage to their attempt to sabotage nuclear agreement with Iran

The menacing letter they signed, almost certainly a violation of the Logan Act, was written by Sen. Tom Cotton, and threatened the integrity of nearly 4,000 executive agreements signed since the begining of the Carter administration alone.
     It falsely attempted to persuade the government of Iran that the United States is not bound by executive agreements and implied that President Obama's successor could revoke any agreement signed by the United States with Iran.
     Secretary of State Kerry said their recklessness undermined U.S. foreign policy, was legally incorrect, and "ignored more than two centuries of precedent in the conduct of American foreign policy."
     Iran's foreign minister, a professor of international law with advanced degrees from three U.S. universities, said this:

     Sen. Deb Fischer dismissed criticism of her action as "partisan noise."
     Sen. Ben Sasse adopted a mien of incredulity, passing off his attempt at diplomatic meddling as merely "a letter that says we have a Constitution." He then went further, telling the World-Herald:

     It's breathtaking to me that anybody can think a letter that says we have a Constitution is surprising."
     Pressed as to his reason for signing the letter, Sasse said that shouldn't be the issue...

Watch: Maine's independent Senator King appalled by reckless Cotton letter signed by Sens. Sasse and Fischer

Arkansas' hothead freshman senator, Tom Cotton, has "split unified American sentiment on Iran into a partisan issue [even within the GOP] and undermined the president, congressional authority, and U.S. allies in the process" — with the help of signatories like Sen. Ben Sasse and Sen. Deb Fischer (bracketed comment in quotation added by AKSARBENT)..

Bloomberg wonders if right-wing extremists like Ben Sasse and Deb Fischer just signed a treasonous letter

Both Nebraska senators (as well as Iowa Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley) have signed a letter intended to sabotage President Obama's negotiations with Iran. Via Bloomberg:

     The letter, organized by Senator Tom Cotton, a freshman from Arkansas, warned Iran that "...we will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei. The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time."
     White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the letter's goal was to "undermine" negotiations with Iran, but also noted that if the Obama administration reached an agreement over Iran's nuclear program that it would not be a treaty subject to congressional ratification.

In a response, Iran's foreign minister seems to display more knowledge about the U.S. Constitution than either grandstanding senator from Nebraska:

Zarif expressed the hope that his comments "may enrich the knowledge of the authors to recognize that according to international law, Congress may not modify the terms of the agreement at any time as they claim, and if Congress adopts any measure to impede its implementation, it will have committed a material breach of US obligations.

Crooks and Liars added: Republican idjuts like Senator Tom Cotton [this would include Sasse, Fischer, Ernst and Grassley, who all signed his ignorant letter] may think it's cool to play cowboy with international relations, but we're fortunate to have some adults in the room still.
     Mother Jones reminds us that Tom Cotton,first gained notoriety after writing a letter to the editor of the New York Times demanding that everyone who worked on a story on a top-secret terrorist tracking program be tried for treason
     Now it seems that he has graduated to conspiring to commit treasonous activities his own self.

Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse welcome Bibi to Congress!

 

We welcome Prime Minister Netanyahu to Congress and look forward to hearing his perspective on the nuclear negotiations and their implications for the future security of the Middle East.”







Maybe after Senators Sasse and Fischer have finished representing Israel's interests, they could devote some time to representing the interests of Nebraska farmers and ranchers being threatened with emininent domain condemnation by a foreign oil company which doesn't have a pipeline permit.

Sen. Ben Sasse must not realize there's a web site that saves his deleted tweets

Politwoops watches for deleted tweets from politicians and retweets any that are vanquished. Below is an inconvenient truth about Sasse — his claim that a trademarked NU character, Herbie Husker, had joined Team Sasse. Four days after Sasse posted the tweet, it simply disappeared — after users started criticizing him for politically exploiting the University's mascot. Poof! All gone!

The cheap GOP semantics Ben Sasse and Deb Fischer are using to deny the human cause of global warming

On Wednesday the Senate voted 98-1 that climate change is real and not a hoax — a shabby scam by the GOP to con voters into believing that the party isn't denying science. Republicans will doubtless point to this when critics lambaste it.
     What the GOP won't point to are the two previous votes on the propositions that "Climate change is real; and human activity contributes to climate change" and "climate change is real (and) human activity significantly contributes to climate change"
     Senators Deb Fischer, Ben Sasse and Joni Ernst all voted for the not-a-hoax pronouncement and against the statements acknowledging human complicity in global warming.
     None of them — not even Joni Ernst — is that dumb. All of them are that dishonest, that reckless and that corrupted by Big Oil and the Republican Party's deepest reserves of lethal amorality on a global scale.
     The civilization whose destruction they hasten will be one of hunger, strife and desperate misery.
     As Agnostics, we dearly wish there really were an eternal hell to which Sasse, Ernst and Fischer could be dispatched at the end of their conniving lives, but even that would not indemnify the billions of futures they are helping to wreck.

NE Senator-elect Ben Sasse has a message for all you bad, false and ugly nonbelievers!

Mr. Sasse was far too busy this week to answer even one damn question from KMTV about the CIA Torture report, but he sure wasn't too busy to talk to hate group leader Tony Perkins.
     In his interview, at about the 5-6 minute mark, Sasse had the following stern advice to all you 17 million atheists and agnostics in the USA:

The good, the true and the beautiful exist in places where people know each other and they're trying to live out a life of gratitude to God...

     Our heart goes out to Ben Sasse for the tough road he has chosen for himself — living out a life of gratitude to God in his search for the good, the true and the beautiful amidst the carnivorous lobbyists of Exxon-Mobil and Goldman Sachs. We hope his purity is never sullied, or, if it is, that there are no incriminating fingerprints. 
     Oh, by the way, before we forget, Ben — about that pre-election trip to Israel that you mentioned in your fun chat with KKK-mailing list customer Tony Perkins: who paid for the fact-finding drinks, entrees, airfare, hotels and excursions? Will they be getting a decent Return On Investment for their shekels? Will Nebraska taxpayers?

Ben Sasse too busy to comment on CIA torture report but found time to chat with hate group leader

Here's what Senator-elect Sasse told KMTV when it asked him if he had any opinions about the just-released report by the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture:

Right now, Senator-elect Sasse is focused on building the best team to serve Nebraska when he hits the ground running on January 6th. As such, he is politely declining requests to discuss matters before the lame-duck Congress.

But Sasse found time in his busy schedule to talk to the so-called Family Research Council, an SPLA-designated hate/extremist group headed by Tony Perkins, who was once fined for lying about buying a KKK mailing list in order to elect a Louisiana politician.

In 1996, while managing the U.S. Senate campaign of Woody Jenkins against Mary Landrieu, Perkins paid $82,500 to use the mailing list of former Klan chieftain David Duke. The campaign was fined $3,000 (reduced from $82,500) after Perkins and Jenkins filed false disclosure forms in a bid to hide their link to Duke. Five years later, on May 17, 2001, Perkins gave a speech to the Louisiana chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), a white supremacist group that has described black people as a “retrograde species of humanity.” Perkins who addressed the group while standing in front of a Confederate flag, claimed not to know the group’s ideology at the time, but it had been widely publicized in Louisiana and the nation, because in 1999 — two years before Perkins’ speech to the CCC — Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott had been embroiled in a national scandal over his ties to the group. GOP chairman Jim Nicholson then urged Republicans to avoid the CCC because of its “racist views.”

PAC of Ben Sasse's biggest endorser is mostly a scam

From Open Secrets:

Out of $1.4 million the PAC had available in the third quarter — $978,000 sitting in the bank at the beginning of the July 1-Sept. 30 period, plus another more than $433,000 raised during that time — SarahPAC managed to donate just $45,000 to fellow Republicans running in the midterms. That’s a little more than 3 percent...
What did SarahPAC spend most of its money on, then, in the third quarter? Many of the same consultants she has used all along — for speechwriting, fundraising, logistics and research. There’s even someone paid to consult on “coalitions.” Travel, presumably for Palin, is part of the equation; a PAC like this is useful for keeping a high profile nationally without having to pay those pesky airline and hotel tabs out of personal funds. And the PAC sent $10,885 to... read more

(Via JoeMyGod)

CNN's Stephanie Cutter: Tea Party extremist Ben Sasse thinks religious freedom is carte blanche to cherry-pick which laws you'll follow

Ben Sasse brags about leaving 'No Voter Behind' but his marriage equality stance kicks 50,000 gay Nebraskans to the curb

Sasse's web site reprints a puff piece by the far-right Weekly Standard that dutifully reports the number of pushups Ben can do, but doesn't explain why stiff-arming 50,000 gay Nebraskans won't leave those voters among them behind.
     Sasse has proven totally obeisant to the most homophobic pressure groups in Nebraska, including the Nebraska Family  Alliance, the renamed version of the Nebraska Family Council, which was instrumental, in 2000, in gathering signatures to put Initiative 416 on the state ballot, which banned gay marriage, civil unions AND domestic partnerships in the state, even though gay marriage was already against the law. (How's that for all-encompassing, scorched-earth animus?)
     Recently, the same group of Star City homeboys and girls that Sasse sucks up to gathered 10,000 signatures to kill Lincoln's LGBT fairness doctrine, passed 5-0 by the Lincoln City Council.
     If you didn't get the message implicit in Sasse's pilgrimage to the Nebraska Family Alliance's video studio in Lincoln to pander to Nebraska's most hardcore heterosexual supremacists, you can read it on his web site:

     The contrast between Sasse's indifference-to-outright-hostility, in respect of legitimate gay concerns, versus the sensitivity of his opponent, David Domina, to those same concerns, couldn't be starker.
     Here is what Dave Domina thinks: (Click to enlarge if need be.)

Watch: Glenn Beck tells Ben Sasse to his face that his evasive answer is 'kind of weasely'

Nebraska U.S. Senate race GOP primary: Dinsdale pushes back against blitzkrieg of dark money attack ads by D.C. Sasse supporters

Sasse is staying positive while his Tea Party supporters — astroturf puppets of dark money billionaires — do the dirty work of blanketing Nebraska TV with attack ads against his GOP opponents. The Wall Street Journal says: "In Nebraska, Attack Ads Aren't Welcome." 
     Dinsdale, a honcho of Pinnacle Bank, is worth, according to financial disclosure statements between $110 and $250 million, or more.

Ben Sasse's supporters pouring $2.8 million into ads attacking his GOP opponents; one, that wants to kill farm subsidies, is dropping $200,000

Also: a locally-produced video has some fun with Ben Sasse's name. It involves a lot of butt jokes.

From Leavenworth St.:

At this point, nearly $2.8 MILLION in negative ads has been spent in the Senate race, on behalf of ONE candidate.
     Here is a short list of those who have hammered Sasse’s opponents with negative ads:

• 60 Plus Assn
• Club for Growth
• Club for Growth Action
• EmpowerNE.org
• Ensuring a Conservative Nebraska
• ForAmerica
• Freedom Pioneers Action Network
• Freedomworks for America
• Gun Owners of America
• Legacy Foundation Action Fund
• Madison Action Fund
• Senate Conservatives Fund
• Special Operations for America
• Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund

     The latest is $200,000 worth of ads from the Club for Growth attacking  Sid Dinsdale, who is starting to freak out the Tea Party. The Club for Growth is a Wall St. gang that wants to eliminate farm subsidies.
     Here's a press release from last June from that outfit:

“Now that the House has defeated the Farm Bill, we should finally discuss real reform,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. “The time for reform is now. We need to put farm subsidies on a path to elimination...

Inside Ben Sasse: Nebraskans on YouTube use butt jokes to mock Tea Party Senate candidate endorsed by Rick Santorum

Disclaimer: AKSARBENT had NOTHING to do with this; in fact we first saw it in a tweet from the right-wing LeavenworthST blog. The video was shot and edited here in town by Seven Minutes in Purgatory, an Omaha-based sketch and improv comedy group, made up of Justin Patterson and Price Comstock.



The Washington Post says Nebraska's GOP U.S. Senate primary is a make-or-break contest for the Tea Party, whose astroturf affiliates are spending at least $2.8 million in Nebraska to trash Sasse's opponents in a cesspool of attack ads. Below, the real Ben Sasse sucks up talks to the Nebraska Family Alliance, the predecessor of which circulated a petition which stopped an LGBT equal rights ordinance in Lincoln. In the video, Sasse (endorsed by Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz and Rick Santorum) claims that government does not define marriage.



     Sasse's tea party allies have produced a swift-boat attack ad against his most formidable GOP primary opponent, former state treasurer Shane Osborn, that is so nasty that one Omaha station, KETV, won't run it until it gets more documentation for the claim alleging Osborn "created" a "fake memo" on U.S. Navy letterhead defending his decision to land a damaged spy plane in China rather than crashing it into the ocean during his military service.
     (AKSARBENT noticed this evening that WOWT has had no qualms about taking the money and running the ad.)
     The ad was made by the 60-Plus Association, a dark-money D.C. 501(c)(4) slush fund, that, according to a somewhat dated Wikipepdia entry,

...has sought to offer a privatized option for Social Security, end the federal estate tax, and strengthen gun rights. Current issues include opposing certain health care reform proposals, opposing federal energy standards, opposing the structure of the General Motors bailout, supporting the Stop Online Piracy Act, and opposing tax increases... In 2014, documents left behind by an attendee at an exclusive "donor seminar" put on by Charles and David Koch (of Koch Industries) revealed that the billionaire brothers count the 60 Plus Association as a part of their massive political network.

     Breitbart.com says Osborn's lawyers may go after TV stations running the "Dishonorable" ad, shown below.

     In a letter sent to television stations airing the ad, obtained by Breitbart News, attorney Patrick Borchers warned networks that the ad in question "contains materially false statements concerning Former Lt. Cmdr. Osborn's service in the Navy and subsequent actions."
     "Your station has a legal duty 'to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising,'" he writes, citing a 1961 court case, and adds that "broadcasting stations are not protected from legal liability for airing false and misleading advertisements," suggesting that the Osborn campaign may take legal action against stations that air the ad.

Tea Party swift-boats NE GOP Senate candidate Shane Osborn with ad so nasty, one Omaha TV station isn't airing it

KETV said it wants more documentation for an ad alleging Shane Osborn "created" a "fake memo" on U.S. Navy letterhead defending his decision to land a damaged spy plane in China rather than crashing it into the ocean during his military service. AKSARBENT noticed this evening that WOWT has had no qualms about taking the money and running the ad.
     The 60-Plus Association is a dark-money D.C. slush fund, that, according to Wikipepdia,

...has sought to offer a privatized option for Social Security, end the federal estate tax, and strengthen gun rights. Current issues include opposing certain health care reform proposals, opposing federal energy standards, opposing the structure of the General Motors bailout, supporting the Stop Online Piracy Act, and opposing tax increases... In 2014, documents left behind by an attendee at an exclusive "donor seminar" put on by Charles and David Koch (of Koch Industries) revealed that the billionaire brothers count the 60 Plus Association as a part of their massive political network.

The Washington Post says Nebraska's wild GOP U.S. Senate primary is a make-or-break contest for the Tea Party, which is going all out for Ben Sasse.
     Breitbart.com says Osborn's lawyers may go after TV stations running the "Dishonorable" ad, shown below.

     In a letter sent to television stations airing the ad, obtained by Breitbart News, attorney Patrick Borchers warned networks that the ad in question "contains materially false statements concerning Former Lt. Cmdr. Osborn's service in the Navy and subsequent actions." 
     "Your station has a legal duty 'to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising,'" he writes, citing a 1961 court case, and adds that "broadcasting stations are not protected from legal liability for airing false and misleading advertisements," suggesting that the Osborn campaign may take legal action against stations that air the ad.

Ben Sasse backed by Wall St. group which wants to eliminate farm subsidies

Here's a press release from last June from the Club for Growth, which is backing Ben Sasse and running attack ads against Shane Osborn.

“Now that the House has defeated the Farm Bill, we should finally discuss real reform,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. “The time for reform is now. We need to put farm subsidies on a path to elimination...

Ben Sasse backed in Nebraska's Senate race by Wall Street fatcats who want to 'put farm subsidies on a path to elimination'

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The usual suspects (teabaggers, Astroturf front groups) are lining up behind the most reactionary Nebraska senate candidate they can find, who this year happens to be Ben Sasse. Now the Washington Post is reporting that  the Club For Growth is backing him too.

This is what the Club for Growth said last June:

“Now that the House has defeated the Farm Bill, we should finally discuss real reform,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. “The time for reform is now. We need to put farm subsidies on a path to elimination and we need to devolve food stamps to the state level where they belong.

From Wikipedia:

In 2008 and 2009, the Club for Growth opposed the $787 billion stimulus bill, Cash for Clunkers, cap and trade legislation, the Wall Street bailout, the auto bailout, the Affordable Care Act and the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
     In 2003, the original Club for Growth strongly opposed the Medicare prescription drug benefit proposal.

From Sasse's website:

I understand the bill [Affordable Care Act], I can explain the bill, and I know how to rip it apart...
     This week I was honored to be endorsed by the group Senator Jim DeMint started, Senate Conservatives Fund.

Here's a conservative saying 'good riddance' to Jim DeMint on the occasion of his retirement from congress. And here's Sasse's hero on NBC's Meet The Press, trashing gay families and getting some pushback from Rachel Maddow: