The Washington Post (7/25/10):
...As CEO of Massey Energy, he has presided over a coal company that had thousands of violations in recent years, leading up to the April explosion that killed 29 of his miners. The company now faces a federal criminal investigation into what the government has called negligent and reckless practices.
But Blankenship must have no sense of shame, because he visited the National Press Club last week to complain about "knee-jerk political reactions" to mine deaths and to demand that the Obama administration lighten regulations on his dirty and dangerous company. "We need to let businesses function as businesses," an indignant Blankenship proclaimed. "Corporate business is what built America, in my opinion, and we need to let it thrive by, in a sense, leaving it alone."
Oh, that Blankenship! Why would Blankenship support Portman? Portman wants to cut back on federal regulations and even says it in his position paper on jobs (Link) when he calls them "burdensome regulations." Those "burdensome regulations" cover things like worker safety, labor laws, child labor laws, equal pay, minimum wage, etc., etc., etc. Does the fact that Portman wants to reduce federal regulations mean he wants to eliminate things like rules for worker safety, labor laws, child labor laws, equal pay for equal work, and the federal minimum wage? Is Portman against the federal government demanding that mine workers have safety equipment, equal pay, and a safe environment free of poisonous gas?
Portman, nicknamed "Robby Bobby" by President George W. Bush, exercised with the former President and often traveled to the Texas White House.
Here is a reminder:
PORTMAN = BUSH
* The Wall Street Journal has this about President Obama's Stimulus Legislation:
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday the Obama administration's economic-stimulus plan has increased the number of employed Americans by between 1.4 million to 3.3 million during the second quarter.
The CBO, in a report released Tuesday, said the Obama administration's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has lowered the unemployment rate by up to 1.8% and raised the level of gross domestic product by up to 4.5%....
Jonathan Alter said on the Rachel Maddow Show, that Americans have to decide whether to spend millions of dollars on tax cuts for the rich or millions of dollars to get people back to work. If you want tax cuts for the rich, you'll support Boehner. If you want job creation for everyone, you'll support President Obama and Democrats.